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SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS | 


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SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


BY 


MARION LAWRANCE 


NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 





COPYRIGHT, 1924, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


MY MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 
— B-— 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


To the memory of 
JOHN VAN MATER 


The Sunday School teacher of my boyhood days; 
a teacher of the old school, but a man whose 
integrity, strong faith, simplicity of life, and 
love for his scholars, together with his loy- 
alty to God’s Word and his devotion to 
the Master he served, made an indeli- 
ble impression upon the seven boys 
who constituted his class in that 

little Ohio village— 


This book is gratefully dedicated 


‘A 
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A PERSONAL WORD 


“Tn response to an insistent and widespread demand,” 
CLG.5; Etc. 

So often have I read the above or similar words at the 
beginning of prefaces in books that I decided long ago I 
would never use them, for the reason that they appear to 
lend justification for one to rush into print when all the 
time that very thing was his determined purpose. 

The author, however, has decided to cast away his pride 
in the matter and launch this book upon the uncertain sea 
of popular favor, partly because the words quoted above hold 
true. This volume consists wholly of twenty-five Sunday 
School addresses given by the author throughout North 
America and various other parts of the world. They are 
printed, as far as possible, exactly as they were presented 
from the platform. During his experience of over a third 
of a century in this line of Christian activity, the one thing 
he has heard oftener than any other at the close of his ad- 
dresses (except, of course, that stock expression which may 
mean much or nothing, “I enjoyed your address”) has been 
one or the other of the following: “Ts that address in print ?” ; 
“Can I get it anywhere?’, ete. 

Not until recently has the author brought himself to the 
place where he was willing that some of his apparently best 
received addresses should be put down in cold, uncompro- 
mising type and laid before the reading Sunday School 
constituency. One reason for this hesitancy has been the 
consciousness that none of the addresses could claim any 
considerable degree of literary merit. Indeed, they are not 
addresses at all, but simply plain, homely, practical talks 

vii 


Vili A PERSONAL WORD 


growing out of personal experience, quite colloquial in their 
nature, and without attempt at polish or elegance. 

The author confesses that he has been influenced very 
largely in his decision to prepare this book not so much by 
the requests that have been made for the printed addresses as 
that he has been willing to take without discount the ex- 
pression he has often heard from earnest, conscientious Sun- 
day School workers, given with a warm handshake at the end | 
of a meeting, “You have helped me.” 

To help Sunday School workers has been the crowning 
ambition of my life, the burning passion of my soul. It 
is with the hope that those Sunday School officers and teach- 
ers who may read these addresses will find some real help 
for the tasks they have in hand, some encouragement when 
the way seems hard, some suggestion that will help them 
to make the grade, some word that will lead them to see 
that it is favthfulness and not success that is required of 
us—that. this book is sent forth with many prayers that the 
Heavenly Father may use it to the building up of His King- 
dom and the encouragement and strengthening of that 
Grandest of all Grand Armies—the two millions of Sunday 
School Officers and Teachers of America. 


Marion LAWRANCE. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 
I: TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK- 


Real men, real women, needed—Every man a hero, every 
woman a heroine—Better methods, better men—The heart of 
true religion—Leadership essential—Every person a leader— 
Every person a follower—Leadership only human problem— 
Leaders must lead—The leader as an organizer—Display of 
authority—KEssentials of right government—Necessity of 
vision—Vision first, realization afterwards—Must have faith 
—Work by a program—Loyalty to the vision—Loyalty to the 
Church—Everybody busy—Necessity of study—Must use 
one’s head—Read best books—A high aim—Lofty ambition— 
One’s greatest discovery—The Church’s failure—Enthusiasm 
an asset—The elixir of life—Patience essential—The Chris- 
tian’s hardest lesson—Humility the foundation of leadership 
—All great leaders humble—See the good—Love essential. 


19 


Ii: THE ROMANCE OF THE MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 39 


The Rabbinical School—Courses of study—Use of library— 
School age—No vacations—Methods in Rabbinical Schools— 
Teachers of children—The breath of school children—Ezra’s 
Sunday School—Founding the Church—The Robert Raikes 
Movement—A visit to Gloucester—Robert Raikes’ idea— 
Early school in Savannah—The Sunday School and popular 
education—The Sunday School and the Penny Post—The 
modern Sunday School—The growth of lesson systems—The 
Sunday School army—The Sunday School inexpensive—Va- 
cation Bible Schools—Week-day Schools of Religion—The 
school of the future—Present-day ideals. 


fis cree ok OF THE FINE ARTS“) pie eo oie es OS 


Teaching as an art—Laws governing teaching—What it 
means to know how—Christ the Great Teacher—Teacher vs. 
curriculum—President Garfield and Mark Hopkins—What is 
teaching?—-What is learning?—The personal element—The 
teacher’s manner—The lesson itself—The lesson must live— 
The teacher’s method—Deductive teaching—Inductive teach- 
ing—The lesson and the message—The teacher’s motive— 
Pleasing God. 
ix 


x 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


IV: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER’S DYNAMIC . 


The Good Samaritan—The unfortunate man—The innkeeper 
—The Priest and Levite—“Whatsoever thou spendest more” 
—Not absent treatment—Elisha and Gehazi—*I will repay 
thee”—Love beyond calculation—Blank check signed—“Thy 
cloak also”—The second mile—The plus life—The thing that 
costs—Not how little, but how much?—The teacher’s real 
test. 


Ve UNCONSCIOUS: LULTION fae ies cna 


Not training a mind, training a life—Teaching in silence— 
Nature’s greatest work—The teacher himself—Involuntary 
teaching—Incessant teaching—Inevitable teaching—Our meas- 
uring-rod—Our mental frame—Self-eontrol—Contentment— 
Confidence—Patience—Sincerity— Unselfishness—Sympathy— 
Cheerfulness—Earnestness—The teaching of the face-value 
of a smile—Avoid thunder-clouds—The scepter of the school- 
room—The voice—Charles G, Finney—Elizabeth Fry—The 
Scripture voice—The soft answer—The sum of it all—At- 
mosphere—Radiation—The life poured out—The shoe-leather 
binding. 


VI: THE TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART 


VII: 


Visit to Shechem—Jerusalem Pilgrims—The shepherd’s flute 
—Gideon’s Pocl—The Shepherd Psalm—Knowing the sheep 
—Surroundings—Peculiarities — Possibilities — Limitations— 
Dangers—Leading the sheep—Going before—Right habits— 
Feeding the sheep—Right food—Right place—Right time— 
Protecting the sheep—From low ideals—False doctrines— 
Fool friends—Beasts of Ephesus—Seeking the lost—Ab- 
senteeism—Value of the visit—A beautiful picture—Giving 
one’s life—Living for others—Real teaching—Peter Cart- 
wright—My Shepherd. 


THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER BETWEEN SUN- 

DAYS USES WERT ME iri armen ea yr CUM fae en 
The everyday teacher—The big week-day task—Reviewing 
last Sunday—-Studying experiences—Cause of failure—Cause 
of success—Looking up absentees—Value of personal touch 
—The telephone—The personal letter—The printed card— 
The scholar’s right—“Left”—Sickness in the home—Keeping 
scholars busy—Cultivating the social side—Looking forward 
—Planning for the future—Right use of lesson helps—How 
to study—Preparing one’s self. 


VIII: THE TEACHER AT THE GRINDSTONE . 


The teaching pivot—The teacher’s rank—The teacher and the 
lessons—Preparation and training—The “why” of our work— 
How to learn how—General knowledge of the Bible—A study 
of the mind—The laws of teaching—Value of systematic 
reading—The place of the Workers’ Library—Not “must,” 


PAGE 
61 


69 


79 


91 


99 


CONTENTS xi 


CHAPTER PAGE 
but “may”—Specifie preparation—How to prepare—Gather- 
ing material—Arranging material—Building around central 
truth—Not too much—Observe the time limit—Have defi- 
nite aim—Begin early—Study daily—Bible first—Prepare 
copiously—Prepare prayerfully—Prepare one’s self—Pray— 
Pour out—Pull in. 


te Ra eo Ry LAU ek CRON eye osetia sie sindge trey CRT OO 


Illustrations that illustrate—The windows in the house— 
Wholesome illustrations—Positive, rather than negative— 
Source of best illustrations—How to find them—§$800 a word 
—The bell-cord—The  fruit-basket—One’s  glasses—Snow 
fences—Best illustrations—Man on a bicycle—Overdoing il- 
lustrations—The key to the best  illustrations—Christ’s 
method of comparison—“‘Like.” 


&X: THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS AS Ae a E18 


Lord Bacon—The question-book—Scepter of power—Value 
of repetition—Living question-marks—Select questions in 
advance—Arrange in proper order—Question the class—Do 
not question individuals—Never repeat question—Avoid lead- 
ing questions—Not in_ rotation—Question all—Question 
should tell littlh—Three kinds of questions—The uses of oil 
—Socrates and Meno—Teaching by questioning—The phi- 
losophy of the question. 


XI: A NEW VOCATION—DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDU- 
CATION IN THE LOCAL CHURCH.  ... 127 


The Grand Army—Present conditions—The Church’s ier of 
vision—The result to the Sunday School—Sunday School and 
football—Religious education—Taking the matter seriously 
—The dawn of a new day—Proper equipment—Books and 
periodicals—Colleges getting vision—Summer schools and 
camps—Training in local Churches—Week-day Schools of 
Religion—Vacation Bible Schools—Trained teachers neces- 
sary—The new vocation—A new avocation—Director of Re- 
ligious Education—Unified program of religious education 
—The coming day—Covers entire Church—A real danger— 
The call to service—The great challenge of to-day. 


XII: THE WHY OF TEACHER-TRAINING. . - 136 


Must know how—Training essential—“‘Ye shall scl the 
“truth”—“The truth shall make you free’—Character-build- 
ing—“Workmen, not ashamed”—Must know why we teach— 
Must know what we teach—Must know whom we teach— 
Psychology—Mothers—Daniel 12: 3—Must know how to teach 
—Learning from Jesus—Following Jesus’ methods—All 
teaching constructive—Teaching interesting—Adaptation to 
scholars—Brevity of time—Should have teacher-training class 
—Method of teacher-training—How to start the class—How 
to make it successful—The “West Point” of the Sunday 
School. 


X11 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


AIIT: 


XIV: 


THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY TRAIN- 

ING e ° ° e ° ° ° e . e e e * 
The business of the Church—Under marching orders—“Go— 
Teach”—Christ’s estimate—Bishop Taylor’s opinion—Living 
by conquest—A prophet in Babylon—Strong testimonials— 
Mission schools vs. homeland schools—A missionary depart- 
ment—How to organize—Good missionary books—Mission- 
ary program—tThe school must know—The school must pray 
—The school will pay—Principles of missionary giving—The 
duplex envelope—Systematic instruction in giving—$10 for 
Porto Rico—Losing one’s Bible—The school will glow—The 
school with life—The school will grow—The story of the 
turtle—Making a cake for God first. 


METHODS OF SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM . 


Evangelism defined—Vitalizing regular services—The hot- 
house method—An evangelistic atmosphere—Pastor’s Class— 
How to organize—How to conduct—Helpful material—Spe- 
cial meetings—Their value—Their danger—Decision Day— 
Used and abused—How to conduct—Various methods—One 
great blunder—Preparation necessary—Sometimes a confes- 
sion—Chickens and a garden—Mrs. Kennedy’s Decision Day 
—Forward Step Day—Defined—Its great value—Why better 
than Decision Day—Personal work—Everyday work—Good 
books to read—The personal touch. 


XV: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND ITS THROUGH-THE- 


XVI; 


WEEK ACTIVITIES hii metan ist inte . 


Last all the week—Fifty-two weeks a year—Men and Re- 
ligion Campaign—The fruits and the roots—The value of a 
good program—Social service—Activities for pleasure— 
Esprit de corps—Activities for personal helpfulness—Phys- 
ical—Mental—Many-sided program—Avenues for helpfulness 
—Blessings to the shut-ins—The down-and-outs—Value of 
organized classes—Keeping down the weeds—Work with chil- 
dren—W ork for children—The appeal of mission enterprises 
—The gospel of helpfulness. 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM wp rin ye Ge win alee eae 


No such problem—Problem lies deeper—One of leadership— 
Fallacy of theory—Must know the boys—Cultivating habit— 
Bidding for boys—Horace Mann—The value of one boy— 
Sunday School and the saloon—Barring prison doors—Boys 
not in the Sunday School—Why boys are not attracted— 
Must be a reason—Boys go where they want to go—Chummy 
fathers—Parents to blame—Church members to blame—Su- 
perintendents to blame—Do not keep eighteen-year-olds in 
knee-pants—Tough flour—Responding to the heroic—Boys 
can be gotten in—See things from the boy’s standpoint— 
Set high ideals—Make the school worth while—Pipe-organ 
talk to grown folks, jews’-harp talk to boys—Go after them 


PAGH 


144, 


154 


165 


171 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


systematically—How John A. Logan went to the Senate—Go 
after them regularly, persistently—How to hold the boys— 
Believe in them—Have a place for them—Be interested in 
what they are interested in—Keep the boys busy—Know their 
names—Don’t “don’t”—Don’t treat all boys alike—Make the 
lesson real—Keep close to the boys—Sympathize with the 
boys—Trust the boys—Love the boys—Appeal to the heroic. 


XVII: THE CHALLENGE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL . 


Sunday School not understood—A broader vision—Adequate 
provision—A larger faith—The great power of the school— 
Judge Fawcett—Builders—Not menders of broken earthen- 
ware—Story of Benjamin Dix—Teaching of the real Gospel 
—Bookish lessons fail—Vital lessons hold—Deeper personal 
consecration—The first wireless message—God’s great wire- 
less—Shooting arrows. 


XVIII: THE HOME, THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND THE 


he 


NATION ° e ° e e ° e e e ° 


Civilization on trial—World upside down—Scramble for 
money—Pleasure-mad—Motors and movies—God’s holiest 
school—The home is the jackscrew—Rescuing vs. preventing 
—Moody’s testimony—The Cotter’s Saturday Night—The 
great home Book—Where parents are Christians—Where 
parents are not Christians—Montessori method—Children of 
yesterday, heirs of to-morrow—Only right homes can save a 
nation—Children chief asset—Roger Babson’s testimony— 
Power of the Sunday School—What about the twelve mil- 
lion?—Can a nation live without God?—Can a selfish democ- 
racy survive?—Public schools of America—Reconstruction of 
the world—Only way to prevent wars—Testimony of the 
great pickle man, H. J. Heinz—Two neighbor boys—One a 
missionary, the other assassinated a President—What makes 
the difference?—Agencies that wreck nations—Bolshevik Sun- 
day Schools—“There is no God”—Testimonials of Presidents 
—Heroes of war—Heroes of peace—The great army of Sun- 
day School teachers. 


THE PASTOR AND THE SUPERINTENDENT . . 


Must pull together—Not go tandem—Pastor with school vision 
—Superintendent with Church vision—Pastor and the Sunday 
School—Sunday School Pastors—President Mullins’ testi- 
mony—Stealing time—Pastor’s responsibility—Multiplying 
one’s usefulness—The hostile Pastor—The indifferent Pastor 
—The officious Pastor—The sympathetic Pastor—The codp- 
erating Pastor—The Pastor and religious education—The 
rights of the Sunday School—The Superintendent’s office— 
His election—As a disciplinarian—His attitude toward the 
Church—Sunday School machinery—An educational vision— 
Social program—Spiritual insight—Avoiding sensational 
methods—Standing by the Church—Beautiful fellowship. 


x1il 


PAGH 


192 


201 


218 


X1V 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


XX; SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFICIENCY .  .~ . « « ¢ 


XXI: 


The great word of to-day—The man and the firefly—Can 
the Sunday School become efficient?—“That Something”— 
Picking up nails—Bringing things to pass—F rom $10 a week 
to $50,000 a year—The inefficiency of running empty cars— 
The profit of the by-products—Sunday School equipment— 
What is adequate equipment?—How to build a Sunday 
School building—How to equip a Sunday School building— 
Organizing for efficiency—Doing the right thing—Grading— 
What and how—The courses of study—Financing the school 
—The program of the school—Evangelism—Training for 
service—Social activities—Judged by the output. 


SIX SUNDAY SCHOOL ESSENTIALS Paths . 


Things that must be—Other things that may be—A right 
conception of the school—Revaluation—The sleeping giant— 
Roused and harnessed—The Church’s powerhouse—Drill- 
ground—A laboratory—The great dynamic—The convention 
system—Builder of nations—Golden Gate—Codperation, not 
competition—Getting by giving—Growing by helping—The 
Church and the school—The Church should stand by—The 
challenge of conquest—The beginning of mutiny—Undertake 
large things—Grow, but not too fast—Go after the people— 
Stress religious education—Haphazard methods never ar- 
rive—Plan the work, work the plan—Can’t kick and pull at 
the same time—Must know how—Trained leadership—The 
virtue of constancy—Stick-to-it-ive-ness—Faithfulness vs. 
brilliancy—Consecration—Love and devotion—The living 
touch—The greatest joy in the world. 





XXII: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AS AN INVESTMENT. . 


Will it pay?—Does it pay?—The test in the shop—The fish- 
worm, the fish, and the fisherman—Sunday School pays so- 
cially—Brings the people together—Provides healthful sur- 
roundings—Multiplies acquaintances—It pays civicly—Stands 
for good citizenship—Many fine testimonials—It exalts the 
Bible—Pays financially—Puts dollars into Church treasury, 
for dimes that it costs—Trying to capture Villa—Trained in 
giving—The Sunday School a financial asset—Pays educa- 
tionally—The Sunday School and the public school—More 
Sunday School teachers than day-school teachers—The great 
army of a million and a half—Cannot judge by single cases 
of ignorance—Sunday School pays spiritually—The Church’s 
greatest feeder—The whitest part of the Church’s field— 
Sunday School the underminer of paganism—A profitable in- 
vestment from every standpoint. 


XXIII: SUNDAY SCHOOL BEATITUDES 


Making the school believe in itself—Holding up its head— 
Knows where it’s going—Will have no ragged edges—Has 
right relationship with the Church—Exalts helpful worship 
—Emphasizes religious education—Secures a trained leader- 


236 


244 


255 


CONTENTS XV 


CHAPTER PAGH 
ship—Conducts a Workers’ Council—Codperates in com- 
munity enterprises—Does not go to sleep at the switch— 
Maintains a missionary spirit—Carries on graded, through- 
the-week activities—Teaches the religion of patriotism— 
Maintains an evangelistic atmosphere. 


XXIV: THE ACID TEST—FIFTY-SEVEN VARIETIES. . 265 


What is it?--What is success?—What is failure?—The loftiest 
ambition—Being self-centered—The value of self-denial— 
Criticize or commend—The tongue a sharp sword—Keeping 
secrets—Loving a child—Sticking—Advertising one’s religion 
—Confessing our mistakes—Self-control—The sacredness of 
the home—God’s Book—Praying for others—Seecing what 
goes on—Being happy alone—The value of time—Borrowing 
lead pencils—Holding your temper—Care of your person— 
Happy doing drudgeries—Looking in a mudhole—Invoicing 
one’s graces and disgraces—Attitude toward old age. 


XXV: ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP IN CHRISTIAN 
WhO RR Rese foie sere fa anh Bes AWN Vs 


Only human problem—Wise leadership essential—Qualifica- 
tions for leadership—Humility—Lowliness and kingliness— 
Unselfishness ——-Meekness—Purpose—Confidence—Personality 
—Leadership not vested in titles—Quietness—Self-Control— 
“Study to be quiet”—Patience—Sympathy—Sincerity—Self- 
surrender— Willingness to obey—Love of the Cause—Love 
for great leaders—The Matchless Leader—The cost of leader- 
tag 18 penalty of leadership—The challenge of leader- 
ship. 


279 


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MY MESSAGE TO 
SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 





MY MESSAGE TO 
SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


I 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL 
WORKERS 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER ONE 
“Thou Shalt Be a Man—or a Woman” 


I do not mean just a person. I mean a real man or a 
real woman—true, strong, genuine, clean, courageous, hon- 
ored, above reproach, four-square, with high ideals and noble 
character. If I were speaking to dry-goods men, I should 
say, “‘All wool and a yard wide.” If I were speaking to 
lumbermen, I should say, “Forty feet high, without a knot 
or a limb.” Real men, real women, I am talking about; if 
a man, a hero for every boy who knows him, a man the 
boys would like to imitate and follow; if a woman, a heroine 
for every girl who knows her, somebody to whom the girls 
will look up to and desire to follow. Real men, real women, 
I am talking about, those who will be missed when they 
pass away but will not leave a vacant place behind them, 
because their places will be filled and more than filled by 
those who have been inspired by them to make their lives 
count also in God’s service. 

“Men are seeking better methods but God is seeking better 
men.” 

“The heart of true religion is the religion of the heart.” 


I have nine other commandments to give to you, but this 
19 


20 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


is the sum of all of them. Commandment Number One— 
“Thou shalt be a man—or a woman.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER TWO 


“Thou Shalt Be a Leader’ 


The world is waiting for leaders. Indeed, the world is 
greedy for leadership. People are like sheep: they will 
always follow one another. The world only waits to hear 
the voice of a leader, and then it follows. The tragedy 
of it is that every leader has a following, whether he be 
a good leader or a bad leader. This is the reason we have 
so many fads and ’isms and ’osophies and sects. That great 
Christian statesman, John R. Mott, has said that wherever 
the Church has failed, it has been because of inadequate 
leadership. Likewise, the reverse of this is true, that 
wherever we find success in the Church or in any depart- 
ment of it, we are sure to find good leadership. Indeed, 
leadership, humanly speaking, is the only problem before 
the Church. Wherever we go, we hear of the “boy prob- 
lem,” the “girl problem,” the “organization problem,” the 
“financial problem,” etc., etc. Friends, there are no such 
problems; the only problem is the problem of leadership. 
When the right leader is discovered, the “boy problem” dis- 
appears. The same is true of all the other problems of the © 
Church. 

What is a leader? The best definition I know is given 
by Bishop Charles H. Brent, in his fine book entitled, ““Lzap- 
ERSHIP.” Bishop Brent, of the Episcopal Church, it will 
be remembered, was Dean of the Chaplains of the American 
Forces during the great war. In his magnificent book, he 
gives this definition of a leader: “‘A leader is the foremost 
among companions.” This means that a leader goes before 
those he leads but is not separated from them. He must 
remain with those he seeks to lead. He may be able to 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS 21 


go faster than they go but if he does, he ceases to be a leader. 
No one can lead a flock of sheep any faster than that flock 
of sheep will go. Many an enthusiastic delegate at a Sunday 
School convention, especially among superintendents, returns 
home to his local work with a notebook full of fine ideas 
and a determination to put them all into practice. He 
forgets that those upon whom he must depend for the success 
of his plans have not been under the spell and enthusiasm 
of the convention that stirred him up. All too often, he 
seeks to introduce these new methods and plans, and soon 
wakes up to the fact that he is running on ahead, and all 
by himself, because the rest could not keep up with him. 
A leader must know the road. He must know where he 
is going, or he will not know when he gets there. Of course, 
a leader leads. I need not remind you that the greatest 
leaders of the world have been Church leaders. To be sure, 
we have had great leaders in all lines of activity, in state- 
craft and war, the sciences and the professions, but it is 
still true that if we were to select the one hundred men 
and women who have made the largest contribution to the 
world for righteousness and advancement, a large majority 
of them would be Church leaders. 

A leader is an organizer. A good leader, therefore, never 
does anything he can get anybody else to do, for while others 
are carrying out some of the plans he has carefully laid 
for them, he can be making plans for still others, along 
another line. Organization is essential to good leadership. 
Organization is simply system, method, economy. It does 
things right end first and with the least expenditure of 
time, money, and men. Well do I remember on one occasion 
addressing a large number of managers and department 
heads for the H. J. Heinz Company at Pittsburgh. I had 
been invited on a number of occasions to address these 
men, because I had been a salesman myself. On the occasion 
referred to, a sign had been painted and hung up on the 
wall, over the speaker’s desk. This sign, which was written 


22 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


by Mr. Heinz himself, read as follows: “Find your man; 
train your man; inspire your man; and you will hold your 
man.” ‘This was good pickle sense and it is good Sunday 
School sense as well. A real leader spends much time direct- 
ing those who are to carry out his plans. He will train 
them for their tasks and inspire them, so that each one 
will feel that his part is absolutely essential to success. This 
is the essence of leadership. A leader who can inspire those 
who are to follow him may be sure of success. It is true 
in war, and it is true in civil life. It is likewise true in 
the Church or Sunday School. A leader who inspires others 
to carry out his wishes makes them, in turn, leaders in their 
departments and starts them on the way to be leaders in 
larger tasks. Years ago, there used to be a game played 
upon the school grounds, called, “Pom pom pull away.” 
One boy was usually chosen captain and called “It.” Many 
of us could qualify under that classification! “It”? would 
take his stand at one end of the school grounds and all the 
other scholars would line up at the other end. When “It” 
would call or give the proper signal, all the rest would 
run and endeavor to reach the line at the other end of the 
grounds. Meanwhile, ‘It? would endeavor to touch any 
of the other boys or girls, as they passed, and every one 
he touched became likewise an “It” and played on his side 
from then on. In other words, the game was for the leader 
to make leaders of all he touched. This’is the principle. 
May I pass on two proverbs having to do with leadership ? 
One of them is this: 

“Every display of authority lessens authority.” 

When the superintendent, for example, begins to bang his 
bell and call for order, and perhaps say that he did not 
have order last week but is going to have order to-day or 
know the reason why, he will not have order and he will not 
know why. Order does not come by demanding it. The 
best way for a superintendent to secure order is to be him- 
self in order and to have something to present that is worthy 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS — 23 


of the attention of the school, Another proverb is just as 
significant as that, namely: 

“They govern best who appear not to govern at all.” 
Commandment Number Two—“Thou shalt be a leader.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER THREE 


“Thou Shalt Have a Vision’ 


Every pastor should have two Churches, every superin- 
tendent two Sunday Schools, and every teacher two classes: 
one in his head—the other in the building. The one in his 
head is his blue-print, his ideal, his aim. This is what he 
is trying to bring to pass. This ideal should always be 
higher than and beyond the reality; then it will be an 
inspiration. When one has reached his ideal, whether it 
be in Church, school, class, business, or daily life, his work 
on earth is done. He is overdue on “Hallelujah Avenue.” 
The tasks of the world are done by those who have visions 
that surpass their present achievement. One never goes be- 
yond his vision or his ideal. The great tasks of the world 
are accomplished by those who have great visions. When 
God wanted to plant a new nation and desired a leader 
for that nation, He gave to Abraham a new vision. In 
Genesis 15:5, the incident is recorded: God, through His 
angel, called Abraham out from under his tent on a bright, 
starry night. The four words I would like to have my 
readers remember are these words of God to Abraham: 
“Look now toward heaven.” What was God doing? He 
was changing Abraham’s tent vision to a sky vision. He 
was telling Abraham that his children would outnumber all 
the stars of heaven, which could not be counted. ‘There 
are many Christian workers who to-day have little more 
than a tent vision. When one’s interest is bounded by the 
walls of his own Church, or his own denomination, or his 
own city or state on country, he has still a tent vision. The 


24. MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


word that has come to us is that “God so loved the world.” 

The great achievements of our present day are reached by 
men with lofty visions. When I go into New York City 
over the Pennsylvania Lines, I like to stand before the 
figure of Mr. Cassatt, formerly president of that railway 
system. He had a vision of some day running his railroad 
under the great river and bringing it up in the heart of the 
metropolis. It cost fifty millions of dollars, we are told, 
but he realized his vision. Another great man had a vision 
of one day running steamships from New York to San 
Francisco without going around Cape Horn. He went down 
to Panama and the mountains stood aside. Now the ships 
go through. It is the vision of the sheepskin at the end 
of the college course that drives the student to his task, not 
simply because of the diploma itself but what it represents 
of preparation for the work of life. 

There are those who have visions and stop at that. They 
are called “dreamers.” There are others who work away at 
their tasks, like the man with the muck-rake, and never look 
up to things beyond or above. They are called “drudges.” 
What we need in our Sunday School work is heaven-born 
visions and then to harness those visions to the concrete task 
of our school or class. Then something worth while will 
be accomplished. No superintendent will have a really 
good school who has not a vision that far surpasses his present 
attainments. It is always well to look ahead. I like those 
words of Dr. Lyman Abbott, spoken just a little while before 
his death at eighty-six years of age: “I have made it the 
rule of my life always to stand in the bow of the boat.” 
Commandment Number Three—‘“‘Thou shalt have a vision.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER FOUR 
“Thou Shalt Have Faith’ 


We should remember that God still rules. We should 
have faith in God. Sometimes it appears as if His plans 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS = 25 


were all being overthrown, and yet our faith should not 
be shaken. We should have faith in God’s Word. It is 
our guide-book, our compass to keep us in the way. God’s 
Word will not return unto Him void. He has said it, and 
it is true. We should have faith in God’s program. All 
through His Word, we find the program running, and His 
plan for the redemption of His people runs through it all 
like the scarlet thread through the cordage of England’s 
navy. The prophets, priests, kings, and judges all came 
in their proper order and just as it had been planned. 
Christ Himself came ‘in the fullness of time,” and when 
Christ was here, He worked by a program. How often 
we hear Him say, “Mine hour is not yet come.”” What does 
it mean, except that He was working by a program; but 
on the last night, the hour of His betrayal and the awful 
Garden scene, it was not so—‘Mine hour is fully come,” 
said He, as He went to His betrayal. 

God has a program for His work, and we should aim 
to discover what it is and do our part to carry it out. There 
are those who believe that in this great program the Hight- 
eenth Century discovered man, the Nineteenth Century dis- 
covered woman, the Twentieth Century is discovering the 
child. Never before has the child occupied such a place in 
all the planning for the work of God as at the present day. 
The little child that Jesus put in the midst is still in the 
midst and is coming to be more and more the center of 
God’s great program. 

We should have faith in the Church. It is the only 
institution Jesus planted while on earth, and His spirit 
still abides in it. The Church has many wrinkles and short- 
comings, as we all know, but it is nevertheless a divinely 
instituted organization. It should be remembered that there 
has never been a great reform in all the world that did not 
either originate in the Church or owe its success to the 
Church. In a notable article that appeared in one of our 
leading periodicals recently, entitled, “The Little Church 


' 


26 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


on Main Street,’ it is made very plain that the Eighteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution of our country owes its 
passage to the little Church on Main Street, by which is 
meant the average Church of our land, and this against 
six of the most powerful organizations imaginable, one of 
them controlling billions of dollars and standing for the 
liquor interests. 

We should have faith in the Sunday School. We all rec- 
ognize that the Sunday School is not an institution by itself 
but is the Church engaged in one of its leading activities, 
that of imparting religious education to young and old. The 
Sunday School has come in response to a demand that could 
not be turned aside, and is meeting a need that was never 
met before. When the Church learns to function through 
its Sunday School as it should, and not make it simply a 
side issue among its activities, then we shall see results that 
we do not dream about to-day. 

We should have faith in ourselves, and believe that God 
has a place for each of us in carrying out His plan. We 
should have faith in the possibility of success, for we are 
sure of success if we follow God’s leadership. Virgil said, 
speaking of some of his characters, “They can because they 
think they can.” We should remember that the tasks of 
the world and the tasks of the Church are accomplished 
by those who believe they can be done and that they have 
been called to undertake them. Commandment Number 
Four—“Thou shalt have faith.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER FIVE 


“Thou Shalt Be Loyal’ 


Loyal to your vision. Loyal to your highest ideals. Ex- 
pediency may determine methods but expediency should 
never determine motives. We should be loyal to the Church 
and loyal to the Pastor. Occasionally, we find Sunday 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS = 27 


School workers who are exceedingly enthusiastic about the 
Sunday School and its activities. They are always found 
in Sunday School conventions and gatherings of various 
sorts, but they do not stand by the preaching services or 
the regular activities of the Church. All such are unworthy 
of the name of Christian workers. Our Lord and Saviour 
did not come to the earth to plant two organizations, the 
Church and the Sunday School. He planted the Church, 
and the Sunday School is one of its legitimate activi- 
ties. 

We should be loyal to our associates, loyal to those we 
direct, remembering that nobody can properly give com- 
mands who has not learned to obey commands. We are 
in the positions of authority by the action of those we lead, 
and this should never be forgotten. 

We should be loyal to the patriotic ideals of our country. 
Christ Himself taught loyalty to one’s native land. It is 
altogether proper to display the national colors and give 
them the proper salute at proper times. 

We should be loyal to our Lord’s last and great command, 
which will give the missionary emphasis to all our work: 
“Go ye into all the world,” “Teach all nations.” It is a very 
serious question, whether any one can be called a loyal 
Christian who does not take hold somewhere and do his 
share of the Church’s work. One of the great tragedies 
of our day in Sunday School work is that classes by the 
hundreds disappear because it is impossible to secure teachers 
in sufficient number. The personnel of our Sunday Schools 
changes approximately twenty-five per cent. a year, and 
largely because of this same difficulty in securing teachers; 
and yet the average Church holds in its membership plenty 
of college-grade men and women who might do this work 
if they would. Upon them rests largely the responsibility 
for the thousands, and, indeed, hundreds of thousands of 
scholars who drop out of our Sunday Schools every year, 
never to return. A Church member who can work and 


28 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


will not work is no better than a dead one and takes more 
room. Commandment Number Five—“Thou shalt be loyal.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER SIX 


“Thou Shalt Be a Student’ 


This means that we should study, read, and think. In 
this way we grow, even if we do not apply all the things 
we read. Browning said, ‘‘A man’s reach should exceed his 
erasp, or what’s a heaven for?’ Superintendents who run 
back and forth from one Sunday to the other, always doing 
the same thing in the same way, are running on a single 
track with a turn-table at each end. Trains on that kind 
of a track carry little freight. It was said of a certain 
man, ‘‘He does his business with a borrowed brain, and all 
his mental furniture he got on the installment plan.” Origi- 
nality comes from thinking and studying. Learning others’ 
methods does not mean that we are to follow them, but we 
are quickened thereby to make new methods of our own 
which have the advantage of being home-made. The super- 
intendent should study his own school, the teacher his own 
class, and yet they should visit other schools and classes 
and find how other people do their work. Studying other 
people’s methods is a good way of improving our own. The 
Sunday School worker should keep in touch with the Sunday 
School world. | 

To be a student means that one should use his head. We 
certainly should be as wise as the woodpecker: 


“The woodpecker pecks 

Out a great many specks 

Of sawdust when building his hut. 
He works like a digger 

To make his hole bigger, 

He’s sore if his cutter won’t cut. 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS 29 


He’ll not bother with plans 

Of cheap artisans, 

But one thing can rightly be said, 
The whole excavation 

Has this explanation: 


He builds it by using his head.” 


Sunday School workers should avail themselves of every 
means of improvement and growth. This means that they 
should go to conventions and training schools, denomi- 
national and interdenominational, and when they return 
should pass on the good things they have learned to the 
other officers and teachers in the school. 

The local school should have a workers’ library, made 
up of carefully selected books on all practical phases of 
the work. They should adopt the best lessons. They should 
put into practice the very best methods, realizing that to- 
day’s problems cannot be solved by yesterday’s methods. A 
real student always remains young, no matter how rapidly 
the years may pass, for no one ever grows old until he 
stops growing. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “It is better 
to be eighty years young than forty years old.” When one 
stops learning and ceases to take an interest in his fellow 
men, he begins to grow old, and his spiritual arteries begin 
to harden. Commandment Number Six—“Thou shalt be a 
student.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER SEVEN 
“Thou Shalt Be Ambitious” 


This means to have a high aim—not ambition for self- 
preferment, but ambition for the cause. One can never 
shoot arrows into the sun, but they go higher if aimed at 
the sun than if aimed at the cellar. We should remember 
that our schools will never surpass our aim and our ambition 
for them. We should not seek wholly for numbers, but 


30 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


seek to have a really good school. We are not to be am- 
bitious to beat others, but to beat ourselves. I like the ad- 
vertisement of a candy manufacturing firm in New York: 
“Our only competitor is ‘Yesterday.’” This means that 
they are not trying simply to make better candy than any- 
body else, but they are seeking to make better candy to-day 
than they made yesterday. It is better to beat ourselves 
than to beat others. or this reason, I have little sympathy 
with the high-pressure methods of securing Sunday School 
members. ‘These methods often lead to unworthy means, 
as many a superintendent can testify whose scholars have 
been stolen to feed the ambition of somebody else, lest the 
“Reds” should beat the ‘Blues,” or the “Blues” beat the 
“Reds.” It is just as wrong to steal scholars from others 
as it is to steal money from another’s pocket. Workers 
should be ambitious to have the very best school possible 
to have by the employment of right methods. 

One of the highest ambitions, however, is to see that our 
places are filled when we are gone and that others are 
trained to take places that will soon be left vacant. I be- 
lieve the highest ambition a minister can have is to be the 
means of leading young men into the ministry. A Church 
that does not send as many young men into the ministry 
as the number of pastors it uses up is a parasite on its de- 
nomination. It makes other Churches raise up its ministers 
for it. 

The highest ambition a superintendent can have is to 
train his associates in office, so they can take his place. 
Somebody has said that a good superintendent is like a good 
doctor—he renders his best service when he renders his 
service unnecessary. Likewise, the highest ambition for a 
teacher is to raise up pupils who will be better teachers 
than he has been. On one occasion, we are told, Sir 
Humphrey Davey, the eminent scientist, was asked what his 
greatest discovery was. It was thought that he would pro- 
duce, perhaps, a chart of the heavens and show some star 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS © 31 


or constellation that he had discovered. Not so! He said, 
“My greatest discovery was Michael Faraday.” This was 
one of his pupils. 

Sunday School workers, we should be ambitious for the 
best things. Let none of our plans suggest smallness. All 
of our ambitions, however, for the Sunday School will not be 
fully realized until the Church comes to realize the value 
of the Sunday School more than it does to-day. In a recent 
survey of a typical American city of fifty thousand inhab- 
itants it was discovered that the average Church member 
gave annually for the support of the Church, $24.84; for 
the cause of Missions, $4.00; for Music, $1.48; for the 
Janitor, $1.07; for the Sunday School, forty-six cents! It 
was likewise discovered that out of every dollar given for 
general Church work, by the average Church member, only 
about two cents went into the Sunday School work. Until 
this unfortunate condition is remedied, the Sunday School 
will never function as it should. Commandment Number 
—Seven—“Thou shalt be ambitious.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER EIGHT 


“Thou Shalt Be Enthusiastic” 


‘Enthusiasm is the greatest business asset in the world.” 
Enthusiasm is being awake. It is the tingling of every 
fiber of one’s being to do the work that one’s heart desires. 
Single-handed, the enthusiast convinces and dominates by 
the very force of his spirit. Enthusiasm is nothing more 
than faith in action, and it achieves the impossible. Set 
the germ of enthusiasm afloat in your school, in your Church, 
in your district, in your county association. Carry it in your 
attitude and manner. It spreads like contagion and influ- 
ences every one. It gets results of which you never dreamed. 

Many a Sunday School has been talked to death, because 
people continually said, “Our Sunday School is dead!” Well 


32 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


does the writer recall that on numerous occasions, in con- 
ventions, he has been asked the question in public, “Our 
school is dead. What should we do?” It is well to remem- 
ber that Christian people are supposed to believe in the 
resurrection of the dead, and to proceed to have a resurrec- 
tion in that particular school. It is not always out of place 
to say, when some one informs you that his school is dead, 
that it is just as well not to say anything about it, for there 
is an unwritten law in the land that wherever a corpse is 
found, those next to it are under suspicion. To be alive, 

talk life! To be dead, talk death! : 

Keep up your courage. Have good cheer. Carry a smil- 
ing face. Wear your welcome in your face, rather than 
simply on the door-mat. Have a hand that knows how to 
shake, and use it, giving a real, genuine handshake back 
of the third row of joints. Refuse to give up. Insist that 
the sun is ever shining or will shine soon. “The joy of 
the Lord is your strength,” the Bible says. 

Some Sunday Schools these days are adopting, as their 
slogan: “Our Sunday School must glow and grow and go, 
and I will help to make it so.” “Enthusiasm for God is the 
true elixir of life.” Commandment Number Eight—“Thou 
shalt be enthusiastic.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER NINE 


“Thou Shalt Be Patient’ 


‘He who can have patience can have what he will.” Mil- 
ton says, ‘Patience is the exercise of saints and victor over 
all that tyranny or fortune can inflict.” When you lose 
your patience, if you are fat, you lose your breath; if you 
are a speaker, you lose your audience; if you are a politician, 
you will probably lose your election; if you are in an argu- 
ment, you are likely to lose your point; if you are a father 
or mother and lose your patience with your boy or girl, 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS — 33 


you lose more than you can make up in many a day. It 
is a hard lesson to learn, but it must be learned. 

How beautifully the lesson of patience is illustrated in 
Patterson Du Bois’s charming little book entitled, ‘““Brcxon- 
Inas FRoM Lirrie Hanns.” Those who have read it will 
never forget the first two chapters, “The Fire Builders,” 
and how the author of the book himself learned the lesson 
of patience, even though it was hard to learn. It is one 
of the strangest things in all the world that we lose our 
patience most quickly, it sometimes appears, with those we 
love the best. Things that would pass by as of little conse- 
quence, in a neighbor’s home, would be severely criticized in 
our own, oftentimes. 

We lose patience too easily with our own boys and girls. 
How well do I remember losing my patience and control 
when my boy was but seven years of age. I punished him 
and punished him severely, only to learn a little later that 
he was not guilty at all of the thing for which I punished 
him. Friends, I could not have said my prayers if I had 
not taken that little fellow on my knee and said to him, 
calling him by name, “Father is sorry. He did wrong. He 
punished you when you did not deserve it. Forgive me, 
and I will try to be a better father.” The pressure of those 
little arms around the neck and the boyish kiss upon a tear- 
ful face drove away the sting, and there was no more pain. 

In many homes, the children seek to find comfort in their 
playthings, in their toys and dolls, because father and 
mother are not patient with them. This thought was beauti- 
fully expressed by Coventry Patmore, in lines quoted in that 
same choice book mentioned above: 


“My little son who looked from thoughtful eyes, 
And moved and spoke in quiet, grown-up wise, 
Having my law the seventh time disobeyed, 

I struck him and dismissed 
With hard words and unkissed— 
His mother, who was patient, being dead. 


384 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Then, fearing lest his grief should hinder actin 

I visited his bed, 

But found him slumbering deep, 

With darkened eyelids, and their lashes yet 

From his late sobbing wet. 

And I, with moan, 

Kissing away his tears, left others of my own; 

For, on a table drawn beside his head, 

He had put within his reach, 

A box of counters and a red-veined stone, 

A piece of glass abraided by the beach, 

And six or seven shells, 

A bottle with bluebells, 

And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful 
art, 

To comfort his sad heart.” 


Commandment Number Nine—“Thou shalt be patient.” 


COMMANDMENT NUMBER TEN 


“Thou Shalt Be Humble” 


In Bishop Brent’s book already referred to, entitled, 
“LEADERSHIP,” he says that humility is the chief and under- 
lying basis of all true leadership. A leader without humil- 
ity is a bully or a driver. Without doubt, the greatest leader 
mentioned in the Bible, next to the Master Himself, was 
Moses, and yet of him it was said that he was the meckest 
of men. “Who am I?” said Moses, when God set him apart 
to lead the people out of bondage into the Promised Land. 
He could not even talk. Thank God for some leaders who 
do not talk, at least not overmuch. Kingliness and lowli- 
ness go together. 

What a marked example of this was our beloved and 
martyred President, Abraham Lincoln. When leaving his 
home city of Springfield, Illinois, to take up his office at 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS = 35 


Washington, and his neighbors gathered about to bid him 
farewell, he said to them, among other things, “I do not 
count myself fit to be President of the United States.” 
Later, during the great Civil War, when matters were not 
going satisfactorily on the Potomac, the great President went 
down to visit the field and talk matters over with the Gen- 
eral. Upon arrival, he sent his orderly to inform the Gen- 
eral that the President was there and would like to see 
him. In reply, the General said, in substance, “If the 
President desires to see me, he can easily find my tent.” 
The orderly, according to the story, was furious, and said 
to the President, ‘““Do you mean to take an insult like that ?” 
upon which Lincoln replied, “I do not mean to take an 
insult at all. Show me the way to the General’s tent.” The 
orderly replied, ‘““Do you mean to go to the General’s tent ?” 
“Surely,” said the President, “I would hold the General’s 
horse if it would save the Union.” It is said that there are 
more than eleven hundred lives or books of Lincoln in our 
_ public libraries—not so many of the General. 

Humility has its opposite in selfishness. Selfishness kills 
humility. They cannot live together. How often our chil- 
dren are taught selfishness by the words we put into their 
mouths, for example, the following as a speech from a little 
girl in an entertainment, which brought the clapping of 
hands but should have brought shame on the part of older 
people who would put such words into the mouth of a little 
child: 


“T gave a little party this afternoon at three. 
’Twas very small, 
Three guests in all— 
Just I, myself, and me. 
Myself ate up the sandwiches, 
While I drank up the tea, 
And it was I 
Who ate the pie 
And passed the cake to me.” 


386 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


The idea of the crucifixion of self is beautifully brought 
out in an incident that came to my knowledge some time 
ago. It seems that Dr. Henry Van Dyke was visting Lord 
Alfred Tennyson, the great poet laureate of England, a 
short time before he died. They were good friends, and the 
great preacher asked the poet for a photograph of himself. 
The request was granted. Van Dyke handed the photograph 
back with an additional request that the great poet would 
inscribe upon the back of the picture the lines he had written 
which he would rather have live than any other lines he 
ever wrote. After a little time spent in thought, the great 
poet reached for the card and wrote the following lines from 
“Lockstey Hat”: 


“Love took up the harp of Life 

And smote on all the chords with might; 
Smote the chord of Self that, trembling, 
Passed in music out of sight.” 


Great hearts are always humble hearts. It is said of the 
Duke of Wellington that, as he was returning from the great 
battle, he stepped into a little wayside Church, the door of 
which was open, and knelt at the altar to pray. A common 
soldier with tattered garments spattered with mud had en- 
tered before him, and was at prayer. The Duke knelt be- 
side him. Presently, the soldier, lifting his eyes, saw the 
Duke and was alarmed and undertook to rise, saying, ‘‘Par- 
don, Duke—pardon, Duke,” but the great Duke put his arm 
about the soldier and pulled him down, saying, “This is 
God’s altar; we are all one here.”” This was true greatness, 
and the foundation of it is humility. 

Humble people, remembering their own limitations, are 
ready to recognize the good in others and not seek always 
to find their weak points. 

It is so easy to see the fault in other people. Many times 
have I held up before the Sunday School a white sheet of 


TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS 37 


paper with a little black spot in the middle of it, and asked 
the scholars what they saw. They will all respond, as a 
rule, “A black spot.” Then it is well to remind them, as 
I have done, that there are a hundred times as much white 
paper as there is black spot. We should cultivate the habit 
of seeing the good and not the bad. 


“If we looked for people’s virtues 

And the faults refused to see, 

What a pleasant, cheerful, happy place 
This world would be.” 


Commandment Number Ten—“‘Thou shalt be humble.’’ 


THE NEW COMMANDMENT 


We have warrant in the great Book for a new command- 
ment, and it is this: “Thow shalt love.” Love God? Yes— 
not with a sickly, sentimental love, but with that love which 
recognizes our true relationship to God and His to us; that 
love which drives us to our tasks for Him, that sends us 
out in the middle of the night, if need be, to visit that sick 
scholar or look up the absentee; that love that never lets go. 

Thou shalt love also God’s Word. It has never failed 
yet. It should be the guide of our lives and the man of our 
counsels. 

We should love people, especially little children. 

We should love all, the good and those who are not good. 

We should love those who love us, and that is easy, but 
we are commanded to love those who do not love us. Edwin 
Markham puts this in these beautiful lines: 


“He drew a circle and shut me out, 
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. 
But Love and I had the wit to win: 
We drew a circle that took him in!” 


38 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


We should love our work and, most of all, we should love 
the souls of men, women, boys, and girls. “No man is 
orthodox who has lost his passion for the souls of men.” 

I have tried to state, in the simplest form I could, what 
is required of a Christian worker, whether in the Sunday 
School or in any other line of activity. It seems to me that 
the two essentials are found in a picture said to come from 
the Huguenots but found in various places. I saw it on 
a missionary certificate, and this was the picture: An ox 
standing between an altar and a plow. What is the sig- 
nificance? The altar stands for sacrifice; the plow stands 
for service. The legend printed underneath gives its sig- 
nificance: 

“Ready for either.” 

This ts the price of successful Christian work. 


It 


THE ROMANCE OF THE MODERN SUNDAY 
SCHOOL 


The Sunday School is a new thing and is becoming newer 
with the passing years. The Sunday School of to-day would 
hardly be recognized by the Sunday School leaders of a 
hundred years ago. It has not run “true to type,” as the 
biologist would say, except that it meets, as a rule, on Sun- 
day and teaches religion and morals. What the Sunday 
School of the future is to be, it would be unsafe to prophesy 
at this time, because of the radical changes of the recent 
past and the more radical developments of the present. 
That it is to have a glorious future, no student of the Sun- 
day School will doubt. 

The origin, development, and growth of the Sunday 
School present a fascinating story. It is our purpose, in 
this chapter, to follow its roots back to its beginning and 
speak, all too briefly because of our limited space, of the 
high points in its development. Up to the present time, there 
are four distinct epochs in the development of the Sunday 
School, with the fifth looming up invitingly before us. 


The First Epoch-—The Rabbinical School? 


This period covers practically the beginning of Bible 
history to the coming of Christ. The earliest schools of 
which we have record date back to the time of Abraham, 
possibly also much earlier. Such schools were probably not 
numerous in those early years. However, after the Cap- 
tivity we find eleven different names that are applied to 


1 For some of the facts mentioned under this heading, I am indebted 
to Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull’s great book, “YALE LECTURES ON THE 
SuNDAY SCHOOL.” 

39 


40 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


these early schools. There is abundant evidence that the 
elementary Jewish school system of public instruction con- 
sisted of Bible schools corresponding to our Sunday Schools. 
There were elementary schools for children and similar 
schools for others. These latter were connected with the 
synagogue. The chief value of the synagogue, the Jews be- 
lieved, was as a means of teaching the Law. From five to 
ten years of age, a Jewish child was required to study in 
these schools, religion being practically the only subject 
taught. After five years, the scholar might take up what 
corresponded to our modern catechisms or lesson helps. It 
is noteworthy that the Jewish child’s first Bible school les- 
sons were in Leviticus, a book that many modern Sunday 
School leaders would not select for the young child’s first 
attempt at Bible study. From ten to fifteen years of age, 
the Jewish children studied from the Mishna, namely, the 
then unwritten Mosaic traditions, with their Rabbinical 
commentaries, still using the Bible. Of course, they did 
not have the New Testament. At this age, pupils were 
allowed to discuss all these matters with their elders, and 
it is not unlikely this is what Jesus was doing when found 
by His parents in the Temple at twelve years of age. There 
can be no doubt that Jesus attended such a school as we 
have described. 

From the earliest writings, we learn some facts about 
these schools which are worth passing on, as they give us 
a fairly good idea of the estimate placed upon them. For 
example: 

A library was to be attached to every schoolhouse, where 
copies of the Holy Scriptures were available. 

The lessons taught were to be in harmony with the capaci- 
ties and inclinations of the children. 

The teachers were to be appointed in every province, dis- 
trict, and city. Where this was not done, the people were 
interdicted. If the town as a whole refused to meet this 
requirement, the whole town was interdicted, that is, denied 


ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 41 


the ministrations of the synagogue; for they said, ‘““The world 
exists only by the breath from the lips of school children.” 

The children were to be sent to school at six or seven 
years of age. 

The teachers were required to teach all day and part 
of the night. No vacations were granted, except the after- 
noon preceding the Sabbath (corresponding to our Friday 
afternoon). 

Teachers who left the presence of the children or did 
other work when they were expected to be teaching or who 
were lazy were included in the curse of Jeremiah 48: 10, 
“Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently.” 

It was required that there should be one teacher for every 
twenty-five children, or less if there were not twenty-five 
children in the neighborhood. 

In these schools, all was life, movement, debate. Ques- 
tion was met by counter question and there was much dis- 
cussion. ‘hose early schools were anything but quiet. 

It was required that special attention be given to memo- 
rizing choice passages of Scripture. 

In addition to the above, we also find recorded in various 
places certain maxims of the day which were exceedingly 
significant—for example: 


“The true guardians of the city are the teachers of the 
children.” 

“He who teaches without having the lesson repeated back 
to him aloud is like one who sows and does not reap.” 

“Teaching a child is like writing with ink on clean paper 
—teaching an old person is like writing with ink on blotted 
paper.” 

“He who refuses a pupil one lesson has, as it were, robbed 
him of his parental inheritance.” 

“He who teaches the child shall occupy a prominent place 
among the saints above.” 

“Dearer is the breath of the school children than the fra- 
grance of the sacrifices on the smoking altar.” 


42 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


And this was the Bible school system of the Jews in 
Palestine when Jesus came, though, of course, it was rec- 
ommended that the teaching of the Bible was to begin at 
home. Without doubt the Sunday School of our day re- 
sembles the old synagogue service far more than our preach- 
ing service does. As far back as Ezra’s time, we hear of 
what might be called a Sunday School, or certainly a popular 
service for the study of the Bible. It may not have been 
held on their Sabbath. On one such occasion, Ezra was the 
superintendent, as we find recorded in Nehemiah 8: 1-12. 
Our modern Sunday Schools can learn much from Ezra, 
Superintendent. 

For example, the Bible was the text-book; men, women, 
and children were present; fourteen special officers were 
definitely named, together with thirteen head teachers, with 
many other teachers under them who were really the Levites. 
One of the choicest sentences in the description of this won- 
derful school was, “They caused the people to understand.” 
It is noticeable also that this school of Ezra’s lasted from 
morning until mid-day. It was an exceedingly practical 
school, because the final injunction was for the people to 
go out and do things for folks. Perhaps this was the earliest 
expression of social service. As Nehemiah was our his- 
torian on this occasion, it is not at all unlikely that the 
Golden Text for that day was, “The joy of the Lord is 
your strength.” These schools and the synagogues were 
what Christ found when He came. The preaching service 
as we have it to-day was not known. The synagogue service 
consisted chiefly in reading and expounding the Scriptures. 


The Second Epoch—The Church Founded by Jesus Christ 


This period covers practically the coming of Christ 
to the middle of the Eighteenth Century or possibly later. 
The Church established by Christ was the first systematic 
effort at definite organization for the promotion of the 


ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 43 


Christian religion. To the Church He committed the affairs 
of His Kingdom, and gave them definite instructions. His 
last commission was, “Go, teach!” The Church had a good 
start but at the end of seventeen centuries there was, for 
the most part, a general decline in the Church and in Chris- 
tian activity. During all this period, the Church grew in 
influence or waned, in proportion as it attended to or neg- 
lected the religious instruction of the young. There were, 
indeed, dark days for the Church, and they are referred to in 
secular history as “The Dark Ages.” 

The modern Church has much to learn from the bitter 
experience of neglecting the religious training of the chil- 
dren, as revealed in those unhappy days. It was in the 
midst of this darkness that we see the ray of hope to which 
we now refer. 


The Third Hpoch—The Robert Raikes Movement 


This period covers from approximately the middle of the 
Eighteenth Century to the middle of the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury or a little later. 

That was a thrilling experience of mine when, in July 
of 1903, I stood in the little kitchen, eleven feet long, eight 
feet wide, and less than seven feet high, in the one-and-a- 
half-story building in Catherine Street, in old Gloucester, 
where Robert Raikes’s first Sunday School met, some time 
between 1780 and 1783. This school was for boys. A little 
farther down the same street, on the corner, stands the 
building where a few years later he established a similar 
school for girls. This was the beginning of one of the 
mightiest movements in the history of the Church. 

Robert Raikes was an Episcopal layman, the editor of 
“Tue Gutoucester JouRNAL,” a man of large heart and noble 
purpose. It is worthy of the attention of Sunday School 
people and all who believe that childhood is the hope of 
the world, that Robert Raikes for a good many years had 


44 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


devoted himself to prison reform, which was greatly needed 
in England because criminals of all classes were huddled 
together in the same room, and the conditions were such that 
every such prison was a school of crime. Raikes, by his 
own testimony, turned from this method of Christian en- 
deavor to the teaching of children because, as he said, it 
was a hopeless task to try to reform the prisons. 

Of course it is recognized by all that Robert Raikes did 
not plant the first Sunday Schools. There were Sunday 
Schools here and there, or schools that might be so called, 
and they were to be found in America before that date. In 
January, 1924, I was holding some meetings in Savannah, 
Georgia. On one afternoon, we visited the old historic 
Curist Cuuron, and I copied the following from a bronze 
tablet on the front of the building: 


SESSA EAT SET LDL SESS ESSE SLE SIGS TE IO ISTE TED LSE IIS I SUE POY SS TO RS 


TO THE GLORY OF GOD 
IN MEMORY OF 
JOHN WESLEY 
Priest of the Church of England 
Minister to Savannah—1736-1737. 
Founder of the Sunday School of this Church. 


SR SS LT SE I SE A CE -AST S S 


This was forty-four years before Raikes started his first 
school. 

Nevertheless it was Robert Raikes who popularized the 
Sunday School movement or, as business men would say, 


he put it upon the market. The movement grew rapidly | 


and gained in popularity. It was not connected with the 
Church in any wise, and the Church, in many cases, took 
official action condemning the Sunday Schools of those days. 
It was not till a good many years afterwards that the school 
came to be recognized as a legitimate feature of Church 
work, but of this we shall speak later. Before Robert Raikes 





ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 45 


died, there were two hundred and fifty thousand people, 
practically all children except the teachers, enrolled in his 
Sunday Schools. They were to be found throughout the 
United Kingdom, on the Continent of Europe, and some 
even in America. The historian, John Richard Green, in 
his great work entitled, “History or tHE Enerisu Pro- 
PLE,” says, “The Sunday-schools established by Mr. Raikes, 
of Gloucester, at the close of the century, were the beginnings 
of popular. education.” 

Indeed, the free school system of England is traced 
directly to the Robert Raikes movement. The relation of 
the free school system of our own country to that of England 
is such that it is entirely proper to say that the Sunday 
School movement is the mother of popular education and 
our free school system. Not only that, but to Raikes is 
attributed also the securing of cheap postage. Being a 
- printer, he desired to send letters and literature in large 
quantities to the teachers and scholars of his schools. The 
rates of postage, however, in England, were prohibitive, and 
through his own endeavor he secured in England what is 
known as the “Penny Post,” thus greatly reducing expenses. 
It is not generally known or recognized what a large in- 
fluence those early Sunday Schools exercised in these direc- 
tions. 


The Fourth EHpoch—The Modern Sunday School 


This period may be said to cover the middle of the 
Nineteenth Century to approximately the present day. Dur- 
ing the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, we find rapid 
development of the Sunday School. To be sure, many 
Churches recognized the Sunday School prior to that and 
were using their best influence to develop the Sunday School 
movement, and yet the Sunday School, for the most part, 
had not been given a place in the warm heart life of the 
Church. In many places, the opposition of the Church 


46 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


to the Sunday School was often severe and sometimes furi- 
ous. ‘he writer has seen, with his own eyes, a Church 
with its door nailed shut by its officers, in order that the 
Sunday School might not meet there, and this in Ohio. 
Such a thing would not happen now. It is impossible to 
fix a date when the Church really recognized its responsibil- 
ity for the school. By the middle of the Nineteenth Century, 
however, or soon after, such recognition was quite general. 


In the year 1872, at Indianapolis, in connection with — 
the meeting of the National Sunday School Association (now 


International), there was taken the longest step forward in 
Sunday School development that had ever been taken up 
to that time, namely, the introduction of the Uniform Sys- 
tem of Lessons. This of itself was sufficient proof of the 
place the Sunday School then occupied in the estimation 
of the Churches and denominations. While great progress 
has been made in the matter of lesson construction and 
Sunday School advancement, the introduction of the Uni- 
form Lesson at that time was a strategic stroke in the de- 
velopment of Sunday School consciousness and activity. The 
country was soon flooded with Sunday School lesson helps 
and literature made possible by the introduction of the Uni- 
form Lessons. This literature became the channel for the 
conveying of new ideas to the great Sunday School con- 


stituency and inspired it with a determination to go for- — 


ward. There had been efforts at lesson construction prior 
to this, and in Great Britain a Uniform System had been 
adopted in 1844. I have seen some of the original literature 
bearing that date and giving the text of the lessons. 

The steps in Sunday School lesson construction and teach- 
ing are very interesting and may be roughly classified as 
follows: 


1. Spelling and reading (with text-books). 
2. Question and answer (with text-books). 
3. Memorizing the Scriptures. 


foe ee eee oe 


ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 47 


4, Isolated and sporadic efforts at curriculum 
building. 

5. The International Uniform Lessons. 

6. The International Graded Lessons. 

7. The International Graded Lessons, with spe- 
cialization. 

8. Special lessons for special groups. 


This brings us to the Sunday School as we have it to-day, 
The time is ripe for the next great forward step but of this 
we will speak later. The modern Sunday School as we have 
it now, with all of its imperfections and limitations, is rec- 
ognized as the Church’s greatest asset and its whitest field. 
It is the first intelligent answer to the Lord’s great com- 
mand, “Go—teach.” Its marvelous growth in less than a 
century and a half, from the little school on Catherine Street 
to over three hundred thousand Sunday Schools enrolling 
thirty millions of pupils, is the most remarkable fact in 
Church history. It is worthy of note also that the Sunday 
School is no longer regarded as a children’s affair, and 
approximately forty per cent. of its entire enrollment is 
composed of adults. There are nearly two millions of officers 
and teachers alone in the Sunday Schools of North America, 
and there are more men enrolled in the Sunday Schools 
to-day by far than in any other religious organization of 
any kind, and yet the great power of the Sunday School 
rests in the fact that it is the Church’s best agency for 
reaching the young, and childhood has properly come to be 
recognized as the battleground of the Kingdom of God. The 
Sunday School is inexpensive; it succeeds anywhere with 
proper treatment; 1t permits of the personal touch; it has 
the unsaved in larger numbers than any other service of the 
Church; from its ranks come far more than half (many 
claim three-fourths) of the additions to the Church by con- 
fession of Christ. It has been shown that seventy per cent. 
of all conversions occur under twenty-one years of age and 


48 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


ninety-six per cent. under twenty-five years of age. Horace 
Mann was right when he said, “Few men past twenty-one 
form habits of virtue or abandon habits of vice.” The 
Eighteenth Century discovered man; the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury discovered woman; the Twentieth Century is discover- 
ing the child. 

The Sunday School is a Church builder, eighty-five per 
cent. of all the Churches in America having first been Sun- 
day Schools. The Sunday School teaches good citizenship — 
and is the Church’s best agency for social service. The 
Church of the future that neglects its Sunday School is 
doomed. With the rapid multiplication of Daily Vacation 
Bible Schools and Week-day Schools of Religion, already 
enrolling hundreds of thousands of pupils, it is recognized 
that the movement has outgrown the word “Sunday,” for 
it “carries on” throughout the week. It is not generally 
known that in an ordinary, five-week Daily Vacation Bible 
School, the pupils get more actual Bible instruction than 
in a whole year in the Sunday School. So firmly has this 
week-day work gripped the Sunday School leaders of Amer- 
ica, that at the February, 1924, meeting of the International 
Sunday School Council of Religious Education that body 
voted to drop from its name the words, “Sunday School.” 
However, the Sunday School, as such, has as yet lost none 
of its prestige by this action. It is in no wise weakened or — 
interfered with. q 

Nevertheless with all of the Sunday School advancement — 
with which we are familiar, we are still in a period of great 
unrest and dissatisfaction. There is a reaching out after — 
better things and a looking forward to the Sunday School — 
of the future. : 


The Fifth Hpoch—The School That Is To Be 


It is hazardous business for any one to undertake to — 
prophesy along any line. Certainly the writer claims to — 


ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 49 


hold no brief for anybody’s opinion except his own. Based, 
however, upon a somewhat extended experience, and study- 
ing somewhat the tendencies of our day, it seems clear to 
me that the Sunday School is now entering upon its period 
of greatest usefulness and possibility. The word, “Sunday,” 
is a handicap. Just what the new name is to be is not defi- 
nitely settled. In substance, however, it will be the Church’s 
school of religion. It will continue to meet on Sunday but 
the work of the school on Sunday will not be its most im- 
portant feature. In the judgment of the writer, the Church’s 
school of religion will come eventually to include the entire 
Church. In other words, it will be the Church organized 
as a teaching agency. Week-day schools of religion which 
are now growing in favor so rapidly will eventually come 
to occupy a still more important place, so far as the instruc- 
tion of children is concerned. The Sunday period is en- 
tirely inadequate and is attended by too many distracting 
conditions. It is too early to predict the details of a school 
that represents the Church thoroughly organized for its ed- 
ucational task. However, there are unmistakable evidences 
that some at least of the following principles will be found 
in this coming school which is to recognize the entire Church 
organized for religious education: 

1. The school to be thoroughly organized and under the 
direct control of the Church and carried on as systematically 
as a successful bank or a department store. 

2. A Committee on Religious Education in every Church; 
this committee to represent every department of the Church 
life, as well as the Sunday School itself, and have charge 
of the entire educational function of the Church, in Sunday 
School, young people’s society, missionary bands, ete., all of 
which are to be represented in the membership of this com- 
mittee. 

3. The official representative of this committee to be 
known as the “Director of Religious Education.” If pos- 


50 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


sible, he should be especially trained for this purpose and 
employed for his whole time in the local Church. 

4, All the teachers will be expected to be thoroughly 
qualified for their particular task, by having taken special 
training for it. 

5. This training process should be worked into the reg- 
ular Sunday School curriculum so that pupil-training leads 
directly to teacher-training. If this is done, the promising 


young people who reach the age of seventeen or eighteen will © 


have completed at least the required Bible study course nec- 
essary to the securing of a teacher-training certificate. 

6. There should be conducted in every school not only the 
teacher-training course referred to above but likewise one 
for officers for both Church and school. 

7. The pastor of the Church will probably be the head 
of this entire educational plan, at least ex officio, or chair- 
man of the Committee on Education, while the Director of 
Religious Education will be the executive officer and in 
charge of all the details of administration, so far as the 
educational program is concerned. This will not interfere 
with the work of the General Superintendent of the school, 
who will usually be an unpaid officer and whose duties have 
to do with organization, promotion, ete. 

8. The Bible would be the chief text-book, and the lesson 
material and teaching would be thoroughly graded and 
adapted to the age, capacity, and needs of growing life. 

9. Week-day schools of religion would be recognized as a 
part of the Church’s responsibility and so far as possible 
all of the children would be enrolled in them. 

10.. Daily Vacation Bible Schools would be held in all 
Churches, wherever it is possible, or in groups of Churches 
in a neighborhood. 


The school would be thoroughly organized along all lines © 
of Christian education, including missions, temperance, — 
community helpfulness, good citizenship, and its keynote 





= 


—_~ 


ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 51 


will be evangelism and service. Many schools of our day 
are pressing hard toward this mark even now, and the vision 
of the better day that is to be is rapidly spreading. We 
have an opportunity to help bring in the glad new day of 
the Church school that is to be. 


Til 
THE FINEST OF THE FINE ARTS 


Teaching is the finest of the fine arts. And why? Be- 


cause it has to do with the development, equipment, and — 


training of mind and heart, which are the dynamies of life. 

Teaching is the highest function of mental activity. 
Teaching is the most interesting work in the world, because 
it is purely constructive. Hence, the dignity and heaven- 
born opportunity of teachers, particularly those who are 
teaching things spiritual and eternal. 

Teaching is governed by laws that are as definite and 
discernible as the laws of nature. The man who expects 
a harvest of wheat or corn must obey certain laws. Right 
well he knows that to violate these laws brings sure defeat. 
It is the same with teaching. Success depends on knowing 
how. Indeed, in every line of activity the world waits for 
the man who knows how. 

Many of our readers will recall the wonderful story, told 
in such matchless fashion by Miss Margaret Slattery, en- 


titled, “Wuat Ir Means To Know How.” She tells of a 


young girl at the seashore who, with her companions, was 
bathing in the surf while Miss Slattery herself was sitting 
near by, upon a great rock, writing some of those choice 
things that the rest of us are glad to sit up nights to read. 
At the cry of help, it was observed that this young girl had 
been drawn down by the undertow and the young man who 
was with her could not rescue her. All the others in the 
party were, of course, alarmed; and one young man who 
knew the way of the sea, sought to rescue the body of the 
drowned girl. This he did, but life was apparently gone. 
Not a soul in the company knew what to do to resuscitate 
52 


THE FINEST OF THE FINE ARTS 53 


a drowned body, and there was much excitement and anguish 
among the company, all of whom were friends, and one a 
sister of the drowned girl. It seems that, at the first cry 
of danger, some one had been thoughtful enough to send word 
to the village which was very near. Presently an automobile 
came rushing down the side of the hill and out stepped a 
young lady dressed in the garb of a nurse. They all were 
relieved, for they recognized that she would surely know 
what to do, and she did. After a while, another car came 
down, bringing the doctor himself, who could not come at 
the first call but who had sent his nurse. By this time the 
girl had come back to life but was as yet very feeble. The 
doctor, feeling the pulse and making proper examination, 
took the nurse by the hand and said, “You are to be con- 
gratulated! You have saved a life because you knew how.” 
Miss Slattery applies this, in her story, to the Sunday School 
teachers who know how, and those who do not know how; 
and here is the crux of the whole business in Sunday School 
work. As a rule, teachers who know how succeed. 

Christ was preéminently a teacher. We learn, from His 
words and His methods, not only what to teach but how to 
teach. It is impossible to overestimate the work of a teacher, 
whether in secular or in Christian education. The president 
of a great state institution of learning said, in the writer’s 
presence, on one occasion, that, in his judgment, the teacher > 
counted for eighty-five per cent. of an education and the 
curriculum or subject matter taught for not over fifteen per 
cent. A wise man said on one occasion to his son who was 
starting away to college, “I care little what courses of study 
you take up but I care much for the kind of teachers you 
are to have.” 

Our lamented and martyred President, James A. Garfield, 
is reported to have said that to him a university would be 
to sit on one end of a log, with Mark Hopkins on the other; 
and some one has suggested, ‘What is the use of the log, 
if Mark Hopkins is there?’ 


54 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Teaching is the chief function of the Sunday School, and 
the teacher is its highest officer. The superintendent out- 
ranks a teacher only in an executive capacity, for the Sunday 
School revolves around the Bible, and those who teach the 
Bible are the teachers. Therefore, that superintendent is 
a good superintendent, other things being equal, whose chief 
concern is to secure plenty of good teachers, having them 
properly selected, properly trained, properly inducted into 
their office, and properly protected while they do their work. 
The school needs a higher ideal of teachers and teaching. 


WHAT IS TEACHING ? 


Gregory says, “Teaching is arousing and using the pupil’s 
mind to grasp and hold a given truth’’; also, “Learning is 
thinking into one’s own understanding a new truth or idea.” 
The best teachers are not those who impart the most knowl- 
edge to their pupils, but those who create in their pupils 
the deepest hunger for knowledge and an ambition to acquire 
it for themselves. Captain Shaw, the best public-school 
teacher I ever had, was not the one who taught me the most, 
but the one who made me hungry to know. 

Only a small part of Sunday School teaching can be put 
into words. Teaching is not putting facts into other people’s 
heads, as you put apples into a basket. In the last analysis, 
that only is teaching, in Christian work, which finds ex- 
pression in life. Real teaching is not training a mind, but 
training a life. 


THE PERSONAL ELEMENT 


In the last analysis, teaching is the teacher. Surely a 
teacher teaches more by what he is than by what he says 
or does. It is the moral power of the teacher’s own person. 
It is the broadening influence of the teacher’s whole life. 
The teacher’s life is the life of his teaching. It seems as 


THE FINEST OF THE FINE ARTS 55 


though when God wants a heart warmed into life, He places 
a warm heart against it. In other words, He places a pre- 
mium upon the living touch of the living teacher. See the 
black man riding down from Jerusalem in the chariot. He 
is a searcher after truth and is reading from the Book a 
very choice passage in Isaiah. God, seeing the need of 
that inquiring heart, sends Philip away from the services 
he is holding in Samaria, to bring to this pupil the living 
touch of the living teacher. When they meet, their dialogue, 
in substance, is as follows: “My friend up there in the 
chariot, do you know what you are reading?’ The Ethiopian 
replies, “How can I know except some man teach me?” 
Then Philip climbed up by his side on the seat and ex- 
plained to him the words he had been reading. We know 
that Philip was a good teacher that day, for his pupil de- 
cided to make public confession of Christ by being baptized 
before they parted. 


THE TEACHER’S MANNER 


The teacher’s manner and personality count for much. 
The teacher should be a lady or a gentleman in manner 
and presence. <A grouch is rarely ever a good teacher, and 
certainly not in Sunday School. The teacher should be 
cheerful and wear a pleasant smile. He should be courteous, 
polite, and kind. Years ago, in Germany, there was a great 
teacher by the name of “Tribonius” who taught boys. A 
visitor one morning observing that Tribonius made a very 
low and courteous bow to the boys, and, with a pleasing 
smile, said, “Good morning, young gentlemen,” after the 
school upbraided Tribonius for being so courteous to these 
boys, some of whom were from the street and very few 
of whom were “gentlemen’s sons,” as the upper class were 
called at that time. Tribonius responded, ‘How do I know 
who these boys are to be? I may be glad some day to bow 
down to these boys; one can never tell.”? Martin Luther 


56 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


was one of the boys on the front seat but neither Tribonius 
nor the visitor knew at the time who Martin Luther was 
or who he was to be. The teacher should also be patient 
and earnest and dominated by the highest ideals. 


THE LESSON ITSELF 


The teacher should make the lesson live. He should make 
the lesson real, and attach to it the importance that it de- 
serves. He should make the lesson fit into the daily life 
of his pupils and bring the scenes and incidents of the lesson 
vividly before them. Of course, he should secure the co- 
operation of the scholars in all of this. Ordinarily, that 
lesson is taught the most effectively that has the largest 
number of participants, under wise leadership. ‘The lesson 
should be taught with life and vigor. This can be done only 
when the teacher puts himself into it, and thus makes the 
lesson a living reality. Nobody could be dull describing 
a railroad accident if he had been in it and escaped with 
his life. Everybody would be ready to listen. On this 
account, it is always well for a teacher to utilize incidents 
that are familiar to the class and in which they are in- 
terested. It is well to take the illustrations from their 
games and through-the-week activities. When the class 
becomes fully aroused, they are ready for the truth. A 
wise teacher has said, “Seize the moment of excited curi-— 
osity to fix the truth.” Do not make the lesson a whip to 
snap over the heads of the scholars. The teacher should 
make the applications as he goes along and not put them 
at the end, as in an Atsop’s fable. ‘The time to catch a 
fish is when he bites.” Do not teach too much. Teach a 
little and teach it clear in. 


THE TEACHER’S METHOD 


It is easy to lecture but not so easy to ask proper ques- 
tions. Scant preparation lends itself to the lecture type 


THE FINEST OF THE FINE ARTS 57 


of teaching; thorough preparation induces the asking of 
questions, which is by far the better method of teaching. 
There are advantages and disadvantages in both methods 
of teaching, but it is well to cultivate the art of asking ques- 
tions. We desire, however, to call attention to two other 
methods of teaching. One is called ‘“‘the deductive method,” 
and the other “the inductive method.” ‘The former is older 
but not so good; the latter is more difficult but far the better. 
The deductive method gives the rule first and then gives 
the example to prove it; the inductive method gives the ex- 
ample first, allowing the pupils to find the rule. As an 
illustration—suppose one is teaching a beginning class in 
geometry in the public school, and the lesson for the day 
has to do with triangles. If the teacher were to say to the 
class that a triangle is a space enclosed by three straight 
lines, he would be doing the work for the scholars, and that 
would be deductive teaching. If, on the other hand, he 
would send the class to the board to draw triangles of any 


_ size or shape they desired, without telling them anything 


about the formation of a triangle, and then, when the board 
was filled with triangles of various sizes and shapes, would 
ask them to determine the one thing that was common to 
all of them, they would no doubt arrive at the conclusion 
that a triangle had three sides and that a triangle could 
not be made with two sides or four. This would be induc- 
tive teaching. Deductive teaching requires simply memory 
or perception; inductive teaching requires initiative and 
mental activity. Deductive teaching quiets the mind; in- 
ductive teaching arouses or quickens the mind. The im- 
portance of this distinction is plain, when we consider that 
all of Christ’s parables were inductive as to their method 
of teaching. Indeed, the parables were called, “Dark Say- 
ings,” and the meaning was not always clear. We read 
in the Bible about the Disciples going to Christ and asking 
that He explain to them the parable. His plan was to drive 
the truth home in such a way that the hearers would rec- 


58 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


ognize the truth before it became apparent to them that 
the application was for their benefit. You remember Christ 
said to His Disciples on one occasion, “Unto you it is given 
to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God: but to the 
rest in parables; that seeing they may not see, and hearing 
they may not understand.” 


THE MESSAGE 


The lesson and the message are not the same. The mes- 
sage 1s determined by the need. To one pupil it may be 
that the need is counsel, to another warning, to another sym- 
pathy, to another encouragement. The lesson is the vehicle 
for carrying the message. The lesson is the bottle; the 
message is the oil. The lesson is the ship; the message is 
the cargo. The pupil will leave the lesson behind but will 
carry the message away. The message alone is what can 
be transmuted into life. No matter how well. taught a 
lesson may be, if there is not a message to the pupils, there 
is no permanent benefit. How often do we hear Christian 
men and women say that they do not remember a single 
fact taught by their Sunday School teachers in earlier years, 
but they remember the effect of that teaching upon their 
lives. 

In this connection, it is necessary to maintain a personal 
interest in the individual pupil, remembering all the while 
that no life is full until it has been filled by a human hand. 
It is necessary to maintain sympathy and to work with the 
grain. The message comes out of the teacher’s experience, 
and his passion comes out of his message. The teacher’s 
message must be born of love, for this is the prime essential. 
Pestalozzi said, “The essential feature of instruction is not 
teaching, but love.” 


THE FINEST OF THE FINE ARTS 59 


THE TEACHER’S MOTIVE 


The motive determines everything else. It determines 
the preparation, the interest, prayer, study, and love. The 
motive is the angle from which one looks at his task, and 
the motive is the teacher’s measurement. <A right motive 
makes him big; a wrong motive makes him small. We are 
teaching for eternity. Expediency may determine methods, 
but it can never determine motives. Accepting the position 
of teacher in a Sunday School simply to please the pastor 
or superintendent, or because your friends are teaching, 
or because it is popular, are none of them the worthiest 
motives. What, then, is the highest, deepest, and worthiest 
motive for Christian work? May I not quote a few verses 
from the Bible, and ask the readers to follow them carefully. 

“T have all, and abound: I am full, having received of 
Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an 
odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing 
to God.” Philippians 4:18. 

“Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is 
wellpleasing unto the Lord.” Colossians 3: 20. 

“But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with 
the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, 
which trieth our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2: 4. 

“Now the God of peace . . . make you perfect in every 
good work to do his will, working in you that which is well- 
pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be 
glory for ever and ever.” Hebrews 13: 20, 21. 

“‘And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we 
keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleas- 
ing in his sight.” 1 John 3: 22. 

“And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not 
left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” 
John 8:29. 

It will be observed, from these passages, that Paul appre- 
ciated the gift of the Philippian Church, sent out of their 


60 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


love, because it was pleasing to God; also that children 
should obey their parents, not because the parents supply 
them with all their needs but because it is pleasing to God. 
The preachers and teachers should proclaim the Eternal 
Truth, not for the purpose of pleasing men but pleasing 
God; that our daily lives should be so ordered that God 
may be pleased, rather than men. And likewise John tells 
us that we get what we ask of God, in proportion as our 
actions please Him. Then the Master Himself, in that 
wonderful verse in John, assures us that the presence of 
the Father is ever with Him, and that He is never left alone, 
because He does always those things that please Him. 

What else can we learn from these wonderful passages 
but that the highest motive for Christian service is to please 
God? We seek to please most those whom we love most. 
This is the dynamic of service, and surely, when we under- 
take our task with this highest of all motives—to please our 
Heavenly Father—we may be sure of His Divine blessing. 
Teaching done purely and simply from the motive of pleas- 
ing God takes love. This motive will drive the teacher out 
into the night to seek the wayward scholar; this motive 
will prevent the teacher from ever giving up the scholar 
who is wayward and who makes trouble in the class; this 
motive overcomes discouragements and drives away impa- 
tience. We may be sure that God’s blessing will ever follow 
our work as Sunday School teachers if our highest motive 
is to please Him and not to please ourselves. Was it not 
said of our great Master, “He pleased not himself,” but 
of Himself, He said, “I do always those things that please 
him.” To please God is the highest motive for Christian 
work, 


IV 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER’S DYNAMIC 


The Parable of the Good Samaritan, found in the Tenth 
of Luke, has been the “happy hunting-ground” for sermon 
texts and for the foundation truth of many an address. 
Indeed, it is difficult to discover any wholesome truths needed 
by humanity in general, either for life or service, that are 
not found in this marvelous story. It is a wonderful inci- 
dent that is here recorded, rich in suggestion, touching in 
its sympathy, and yet as keen as a two-edged sword in its 
application. 

Not counting the robbers, there are five characters pre- 
sented, as follows: 


The unfortunate man, 
The priest, 

The Levite, 

The Good Samaritan, 
The innkeeper. 


The story is full of life. It is a parable of sharp com- 
parisons. Usually three characters are held up—the priest 
and Levite for our scorn, and the Good Samaritan for our 
admiration and imitation. It is easy to criticize the priest 
and the Levite, and yet we must not be too free in our con- 
demnation, for every one of us who turns aside with in- 
difference from those who need our help imitates this same 
priest and Levite. 

What a missionary incentive there is in this parable, 
for the world lies wounded and bleeding! It is not our 
purpose to fix the reader’s attention upon these two un- 


worthy characters, the priest and the Levite. We desire 
61 


62 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


first to bring to the foreground the one most obscure person 
of the five, namely, the innkeeper, and he is not brought 
forward as an example or to point a needed lesson, but 
simply as a foil or background for the truth we wish to 
present. My present message is to Sunday School workers 
and is found in four words spoken by the Good Samaritan 
to the innkeeper: 


“WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE” 


Let us take a look at this innkeeper. He is a compara- 
tively new character and altogether unimportant, so far as 
the teaching of this story goes. His part is seldom dwelt 
upon. We read the account many times, with scarcely a 
thought of the innkeeper, and yet he represents a larger 
class than is represented by priest, Levite, Samaritan, or 
even the thieves themselves; that is the class that renders 
service for value received. ‘The innkeeper has been practi- 
cally ignored, yet he took care of the wounded man longer 
than the Good Samaritan did. The innkeeper may have 
been a good man. Jesus passes no judgment upon him 
either way. He is comparatively a colorless character, so 
far as this story goes. Please bear in mind, as we go on, 
that the innkeeper is not the center of this story. He does 
not count; it 1s the Samaritan who counts. We shall look 
at the Samaritan against the background of the innkeeper. 
With the innkeeper, it was purely a business transaction; 
so much service for so much money, a perfectly honorable 
business in itself, and yet for our purposes to-day he does 
not count; it is the Good Samaritan who counts. People 
who work simply for their pay do not count. It is true 
in every walk of life and every business. Two men who 
had been connected with the same railroad for a great 
many years, having entered the service together as young 
men, met in later life, both still connected with the road, 
one, however, as president and the other still a clerk. The 


SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER’S DYNAMIC 63 


clerk, being asked by the president why he had not made 
further advance, replied, “You worked for the railroad; 
I worked for my salary.” People who work by the clock, 
with no higher motive than putting in their time, do not 
count. To interpret the Good Samaritan aright, we must 
recognize this fact and discover his motive. In order to 
discover his motive, we must note what is said about him. 

First, he went to the man who needed him. Absent 
treatment does not work when a man is bleeding to death 
by the roadside. It seldom works anywhere, except in the 
matter of prayer. Livingstone went to Africa. 

Second, he had compassion on the wounded man. He 
took him into his sympathies. He felt sorry for him. He 
thought, no doubt, what he would like to have some good 
friend do for him if he were similarly situated. 

Third, he rendered first aid to the injured. He did what 
he could. His treatment was supposedly rough and un- 
skilled but it was kindly. 

Fourth, he took him to the innkeeper for better care. He 
knew the man needed shelter, protection, food, and atten- 
tion which he could not give. 

Fifth, he stayed with him over night and personally min- 
istered to him. He gave him all the time he could, It 
may be that he was in the employ of others and could not 
control his time. He rendered a personal service. It was 
Elisha himself that was necessary to bring the dead child 
to life, and he could not serve by proxy through his staff 
in the hands of Gehazi. 

Sixth, he directed that the innkeeper should take proper 
care of him. He no doubt told the innkeeper the cireum- 
stances under which he had been found and his own sym- 
pathy for him, and enlisted so far as possible the good 
offices of the innkeeper. 

Seventh, upon departure, he paid the innkeeper and pro- 
vided for future bills that might be incurred. He recog- 
nized that all that he had done for this man might mean 


64 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


nothing for his ultimate recovery, unless his future care 
was provided for. He could not expect the innkeeper to 
be as interested as he, hence he promised him the money 
that was necessary. 

All of this was good, but the best thing the Good Samaritan 
did, and the thing that revealed his motive and his big 
heart, was to say: 


“WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE, I WILL REPAY THEE” 


The business world of to-day would count a man a fool 
for making such a statement under such circumstances. 
Generally, the proper method would have been to agree upon 
a price for each day’s care, in order to avoid possible extras; 
to have a definite agreement, thus avoiding the possibility 
of the innkeeper’s taking advantage; but no, there was no 
restriction. 


“WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE” 


Here we find the interpretation of the Good Samaritan’s 
motive. Having had compassion upon this unfortunate man, 
he was going to see him through to the end. 

It was love beyond calculation. 

It was the spirit of helpfulness regardless of the cost. _ 
It was turning over a blank check, properly signed, to be 
filled out by the innkeeper himself. Such confidence is 
rarely seen. Dr. George W. Bailey, when preparing for 
the World’s Convention at Washington, in 1910, told the 
writer that a certain man whose financial aid he had so- 
licited for the expenses of that convention sent him a blank 
check, properly signed, and told him to fill it out as he liked. 

Such an act on Stock Exchange would give everybody the 
shivers. In business circles, any one who did a thing like 
this would be considered a fit inmate for the asylum but the 
Good Samaritan did it. He did not count the cost. Of 


SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER’S DYNAMIC 65 


course it was injudicious, exceedingly so, but he did it, thus 
revealing his great interest and the bigness of his heart. 
It was love without calculation. 


“WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE” 


Had he done as most men would have done, he would 
have been no better than they, but he went further and 
put himself into a class alone. He placed at the disposal 
of the innkeeper an unlimited amount of credit. The inn- 
keeper was carrying on his legitimate business. He un- 
doubtedly meant to render value for value, service for money. 
He was well within the realm of the law, an honorable man, 
so far as we know. The Master finds no fault with him, 
but the Samaritan was different. His spirit lifted him into 
the realm of the Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ which 
never stops with simply doing one’s duty. 

The life that really counts is the life with a plus. How 
diligently the Master seeks to teach this truth! To save 
our life, we must lose it. “If any man will sue thee at 
the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.” 
“Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him 
twain.” The value-received principle in adjusting one’s life, 
while strictly within the law, savors of the world, while 


“WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE” 


and the giving of the cloak and the going of the second mile, 
all unsolicited and at the promptings of an overflowing heart, 
this is the real teaching to us to-day of this wonderful para- 
ble. It is “John 3:16” with a new interpretation upon it, 
and the biggest word in that wonderful verse, sometimes 
called, “The Little Gospel,” is the Word ‘‘So.” It is love 
beyond calculation. It is love without calculation. 

This spirit never counts the cost. It settles everything 
in the white light of the Master’s presence. The best things 


66 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


are never bought nor sold. No price can be put upon virtue, 
honesty, integrity, patriotism, devotion, ideals, honor, or 
faith in God. The thing that costs is the thing that counts. 
To live to get all one can out of this life is not to live at 
all. To live, like the Good Samaritan, to give your life 
to others without reserve—that is life. To go the limit and 
then beyond, regardless of one’s own convenience or the cost, 
purely for the benefit of another and in the Master’s name 
—that is life. Is not this just what Jesus did? 

Sunday School workers, it costs to live the life of a Good 
Samaritan. It oftimes means the denying of self, the cruci- 
fixion of self, the annihilation of self and selfishness. Have 
you ever read the charming little story, “Wuy tax Cures 
Rane”? Then you understand. 

Nothing counts that does not help the world toward God. 
With this interpretation of the Parable of the Good Samari- 
tan, we have scarcely begun to apply it to daily life. Do 
you not begin to see some of the appropriateness, therefore, 
of choosing these four words for a talk to Sunday School 
workers and calling them, “The Sunday School Worker’s 
Dynamic”? You are trying to fit yourselves for a specific 
work for the Lord Jesus Christ. You are preparing to be 
teachers and workers for Him. You are spending time 
and money to this end. You are not obliged to do this. 
It is of your own choice that you are thus devoting your- 
selves to the great work in which you are engaged. It re- 
quires the expenditure of time, service, study, and money 
but it is the spirit of 


“WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE” 


that makes you carry your work upon your heart, that drives — 
you out in the heat and in the storm to look up that absent 

scholar or visit that sick one, that makes you sit up late 
and deny yourself many pleasures if thereby you may but 
win those boys and girls. It also requires that we shall 


SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER’S DYNAMIC 67 


grow more and more like the Master Himself and reflect 
Him before the world. 

In the last book of the Old Testament is that beautiful 
prophecy wherein we find the figure of the refiner and puri- 
fier of silver. It is said that in ‘those early days, as this 
purifier and refiner of silver sat above the molten metal, 
he would skim away the dross as it rose because of the 
fervent heat. This process he would continue until the 
silvery mass would reflect his own face. Then he knew it 
was pure. ‘The Good Samaritan gave money, time, and 
self. This is what is usually required, and mostly self. 
Substance, service, self—and the greatest of these is self. 

We are just beginning to learn how to learn how. Ideals 
are not realized at once. Indeed, they are seldom fully 
realized, and still ideals are the masters of the world. Sun- 
day School workers who read this page, are we taking les- 
sons in the school of love, that love which recognizes no 
limits; love without calculation; love that loves the un- 
lovely for Jesus’ sake; love that recognizes that this old 
prodigal world of ours has fallen among thieves and lies 
bruised and bleeding, needing the healing power of Jesus 
Christ? Are we breathing the atmosphere of the love that 
does not count the cost? This is a compelling challenge to 
us, and here lies the recovery of enthusiasm and zest in 
Christian living. 

Well may we ask, “Whither does this Good Samaritan 
spirit lead us?” It is impossible to have compassion on 
the world, or upon a lost soul in the name of Jesus Christ 
without assuming the réle of this Good Samaritan when 


he said: 


“WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE” 


Are we willing to give like this? May this spirit abide in 
our hearts and never die but be a living force felt by all 
wherever we may go. Let us stand true to the high prin- 


68 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


ciples that are taught in this matchess parable. Let us be 
true to the Book we teach and to the Christ, and do it all 
without a thought of cost, as did the Good Samaritan. 

Consider always that you have never done well until you 
have done your best. Go straight ahead in the path of 
duty until you come to the end of the road and then go on 
for another mile and other miles. Thus you will be imitat- 
ing the Master, the Great Teacher, and honoring the pro- 
fession that you have made and be building up the Cause 
you love. As you labor here and there, each in his own 
field, sometimes amid discouragements and difficulties, may 
you be lifted out of yourselves and given new heart again 
by hearing the words which have been rung in your ears 
to-day and recognize that they come as a personal message 
to you, to me, to all of us, from the Master Himself: 


“WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE, I WILL REPAY THEE” 


This is THe Sunpay Scuoot TrEacuer’s Dynamic. 


Vv 
UNCONSCIOUS TUITION 


The most effective teaching is done when the teacher does 
not know that he is teaching. It is recognized that teaching 
is the finest of the fine arts. If this is true, what is the 
finest expression of that art? How do we do our best teach- 
ing? What is teaching ? 

Certainly, in Sunday School teaching we need a higher 
ideal. A stock answer would be that teaching is imparting 
knowledge. This is true but it is only a small part of 
teaching. Teaching is not putting facts into a pupil’s mind 
as you put corn into the bin. That only is teaching which 
finds expression in the daily life. As we have said else- 
_ where, teaching is not training a mind but training a life. 

The purpose of this chapter is to consider how and what 
we are teaching when we are not teaching at all. Only a 
small part of teaching can be put into words. It is done 
in silence. Nature does her greatest work in silence. The 
changing of the seasons; the coming of day and night; the 
opening of the buds; the ripening of the fruit, all are done 
in silence—likewise the teacher’s greatest work. 

What is it we are talking about? It is the teacher him- 
self, the moral power of the teacher’s own person, the radi- 
ating influence of the teacher’s whole life. It is the teacher 
summed up. The unconscious teaching is really the teacher. 
Dr. F. B. Meyer of London has often said, “When I find 
I am not reaching the congregation in Christ Church, I 
ram myself into the gun and fire myself at the people.” 

Every individual is really a double person. He is not 
only the person people think him to be but he is the person 
God knows him to be. The first is reputation; the second 

69 


70 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


is character. Character is bought with a great price. It 
cannot be put off and on as with our Sunday clothes. It 
is the teacher’s chief asset. Somebody has said that “a can- 
non must be one hundred times as heavy as the shot it puts.” 
In other words, the teacher’s life is the life of his teaching, 
and this is unconscious tuition. 

This unconscious tuition has three characteristics, namely: 


1. It is involuntary. 
2. It is incessant. 
3. It is inevitable. 


These facts should awe us into a true realization of the 
dignity of our office as teachers. Here, indeed, is the meas- 
uring-rod for Sunday School teachers. 

Now there are various means of communicating this un- 
spoken part of our teaching. We shall mention but three: 


I. OUR MENTAL FRAME 


Much depends upon our mental frame, and teachers neg- 
lect it at their peril. There are many ingredients that enter 
into its composition. We shall speak of but a few. 


1. Self-control 


Supremacy lies in self-control and being well poised. No 
one can hope to control others who cannot control himself. 
Self-control does not come by accident but by strong will- 
power and much practice. ‘No man who understands him- 
self ever appears to be out of place.” 


2. Contentment 


What we really mean is good nature and is wholly an 
inner quality. It means that we are not worried, at peace, 





UNCONSCIOUS TUITION 71 


not easily fretted nor irritated. “Contentment with godli- 
ness is great gain.” 


3. Confidence 


By this we do not mean conceit nor being puffed up; not 
pride in one’s ability but consciousness of one’s strength, con- 
fidence in one’s self, confidence in his message, confidence 
in his ability to give the message. Confidence always be- 
gets confidence. How true this is when the trusted family 
doctor speaks an encouraging word about the dear one who 
lies sick. Confidence spreads through the house like a 
summer breeze. Confidence shows that one feels equal to 
the occasion. It is reserve power. The tasks of the world 
are done by the people who believe they can do them. Old 
Virgil said, it will be remembered: 


“They bring success their zeal to fan. 
They can because they think they can.” 


4, Patience 


This igs an exceedingly hard grace to cultivate. Some 
one has said, “He that can have patience can have what 
he will”; another, “Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.” 

The following beautiful lines from George Kingle are 
most suggestive and helpful: 


“They are such dear, familiar feet that go 
Along the path with ours—feet fast or slow 
But trying to keep pace; if they mistake 
Or tread upon some flower that we would take 
Upon our breast, or bruise some reed, 

Or crush poor hope until it bleed, 
We must be mute; 
Not turning quickly to impute 


72 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Grave fault: for they and we 

Have such a little way to go, can be 
Together such a little while upon the way— 
We must be patient while we may. 


“So many little faults we find. 

We see them, for not blind’ 

Is love. We see them, but if you and I 
Perhaps remember them, some by and by, 
They will not be 

Faults then, grave faults, to you and me 
But just odd ways, mistakes, or even less— 
Remembrances to bless. 

Days change so many things, yes, hours; 
We see so differently in sun and showers! 
Mistaken words to-night 

May be so cherished by to-morrow’s light— 
We shall be patient, for we know 

There’s such a little way to go.” 


5. Sincerity 


This means genuine, wholehearted, transparent, and true. 
Sincerity is the key to all hearts, especially the hearts of 
children and young people. They are good judges, too, and 
at the last we pass for our true worth. 


6. Unselfishness 


No one can impart the real lessons of life with selfishness 
in his heart. He must have true perspective. Self-seeking 
always belittles; self-effacement enlarges. The humble are 
lifted up; the proud cast down. Genuine love to God and 
to the pupils is the engine that should drive us to our task, 
never any desire to shine as a teacher, but to help as a 
friend. As Dr. Watkinson says, “The selfish man has come 
too late.” 


UNCONSCIOUS TUITION 73 
7. Sympathy 


The world is ruled by sympathy and love, and the world 
is hungry for it. Our scholars are hungry for it likewise. 
The scholars in your class, who face you every Sunday, are 
hungry for sympathy. They will not tell you so but it is 
the truth nevertheless. A word of sympathy unlocks the 
heart and opens the way for helpfulness. Sympathetic folks 
are the angels of mercy. We have no greater task, as Sun- 
day School teachers, than expressing to our scholars and to 
the world the love and sympathy of God. 

All are moved by sympathy. Our sainted William 
Reynolds used to tell the story of a man who was traveling 
in a sleeping-car, with a crying baby. The baby cried until 
the middle of the night, when some of the passengers became 
quite out of patience and one man said to the father of 
the baby, “You should have left that baby at home with its 
mother ; a man has no business to be traveling with a crying 
baby. We paid good money for our sleeping accommoda- 
tions and we have a right to sleep.” The man responded 
that he wished he could leave that baby with its mother but 
that the mother was dead and was in her coffin in the baggage- 
ear. He was taking her to the East, to bury her where 
he married her. Upon hearing this, a great, stalwart fellow 
rolled out of the upper berth and asked the father of the 
baby how long he had been on the train. He replied that 
he had been there two nights and had still another night 
to travel. He thought the baby was sick but was doing 
his best to keep the baby quiet. The big-hearted man re- 
plied, “Give me that baby! You need rest and sleep more 
than that baby does. We have had some babies at our house, 
and I think I can keep the baby quiet while you sleep.” He 
took the crying baby on his arm and, in a low, sweet voice, 
even if it was a man’s voice, sang to the baby, as he walked 
up and down the aisle, “Hush, my dear; lie still and slum- 
ber. Holy angels guard thy bed.” By and by, the baby’s 


74 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


cries began to subside. They soon changed into a coo, and 
then baby fell asleep. The tired father was slumbering 
deeply, and the heavy breathing indicated that everybody 
in the car was sleeping. The benefactor then parted the 
curtains and laid the sleeping baby down by the side of 
the father and again repaired to his own berth. The “holy 
angel” that guarded that baby’s bed that night was six feet 
tall in his stocking feet and probably weighed two hundred 
pounds! The world needs that sort of sympathy. 


8. Cheerfulness 


By this we do not mean funny but just happy, buoyant, 
overflowing with joy, the real joy of the Lord. “The joy 
of the Lord is your strength,” says Nehemiah. Amiability 
is power. Cheerfulness is more than pleasantness. It is not 
always revealed by outward expression. The cheerful people 
are always the popular people, while everybody gives the 
grouch a wide berth. Arnold said, speaking of a teacher, 
“He should not take his work as a dose.” Old Xenophon 
said, “He cannot teach who does not please.” 

Many Christians act as if they expected to be as happy 
as the wicked folks are now. Cheerfulness can be cultivated, 
but it seems that many do not try. Right well do I re- 
member reading an advertisement in an English paper, 
while taking a few days’ rest at Margate, which ran some- 
thing as follows: “Wanrep: A governess in a small family. 
Must be a Christian—cheerful, if possible.” 


9. Harnestness 


We are in serious business, in teaching boys and girls 
who are to live in another world. It will not do to trifle. 
While we must be cheerful and happy, we must nevertheless 
be tremendously in earnest. Impress your scholars that you 
have lived a whole week looking forward to this oppor- 


UNCONSCIOUS TUITION 75 


tunity. The teacher should know what he is after, and 
go after it with all the power that he has. The teacher 
should be tremendously in earnest. 

These are not the only ingredients in the mental frame, 
but they will go far. When a teacher with this frame of 
mind arrives in the class, order begins at once, for the 
scholars recognize that it must be established, and they will 
desire to have it so. 


Il. THE FACE 


This is another method of communicating this uncon- 
scious tuition. We teach by our faces. The face is a public 
sign-board, “the playground of all the imps or angels who 
dwell inside.” It is an index of one’s real self. As chil- 
dren, we used to read in our picture books, “My face is 
my fortune.” This is absolutely true in Sunday School 
teaching. People run from a storm but love to dwell in the 
‘sunshine. Thunder-clouds mean defeat. Pupils read our 
faces as we read a book. Our faces were made to reflect 
the spirit of our inner life. Old Chrysostom said of Bishop 
Flavian, “The countenanees of holy men are full of spiritual 
power.” 

I do not wish to frighten any of the Sunday School 
teachers who read this chapter, but I must say it is the 
duty of every Sunday School teacher to be good-looking: 
not pretty or handsome necessarily, but to have a face that 
looks good. “Many a face not beautiful nor even symmetri- 
eal is noble with moral dignity and radiant with spiritual 
power.” Such faces, however, are not acquired at the drug 
store. 

The good face can be cultivated. It takes the pain of 
bitter experience oftentimes, and yet it is this very thing 
that often brings the face to its greatest expression of power. 
Well do I remember my Mother, whose face would not be 
counted beautiful, but it was a face full of sweetness and 


76 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


beauty, and just to look into it made us children want 
to be obedient and good. 
A smiling face is a benediction, and smiling is a fine art. 


“Smile awhile, 

And while you smile, 

Another smiles, 

And soon there are miles and miles 
Of smiles, 

Because you smile.” 


Little do we realize the real worth of a smile. 


“The thing that goes the farthest toward making life worth 

while, 

That costs the least and does the most—is just a pleasant 
smile. 

The smile that bubbles from the heart that loves his 
fellowmen 

Will drive away the clouds of gloom and coax the sun 
again. 

It’s full of worth, and goodness, too, with manly kindness 
blent— 

It’s worth a million dollars and it doesn’t cost a cent. 

There is no room for sadness when we see a cheery smile; 

It always has the same good look—it’s never out of style; 

It nerves us on to try again when failure makes us blue; 

Such dimples of encouragement are good for me and you. 

So smile away; folks understand what by a smile is 
meant— 

It’s worth a million dollars and it doesn’t cost a cent.” 


In speaking of the face, it is well to refer specifically 
to the eye. Some one has said that the eye is the born 
prince of the schoolroom. Really, it is the scepter of power. 
Order is maintained many times by just a glance. In Psalm 
32:8, God says, “I will guide thee with mine eye.” There 
is power in the eye. 


UNCONSCIOUS TUITION wi 4 


Ill. THH VOICE 


Here is another way by which unconscious tuition is 
communicated. We do not refer to the words that are 
spoken but to the sound of the voice. The sound reveals 
the hidden message of the heart. The quality of the tone 
carries conviction and has tremendous power. It was said 
of Charles G. Finney, the great preacher and evangelist, 
President of Oberlin College, that he could make an audience 
weep just by his voice as he repeated the Twenty-third Psalm 
or the Lord’s Prayer. 

There is persuasion, entreaty, command, in the tone of 
the voice. The voice will often quiet the maniac; comfort 
the discouraged; hearten the sick; and put baby to sleep. 
The voice of that great and wonderful Quakeress, Elizabeth 
Fry, is often referred to as a fine illustration. When she 
entered Newgate jail and appeared among the criminals, 
the very quality of her voice, as she read the Scripture, 
offered prayer, or sang a hymn, would quiet the disturbance 
and draw to her those who were innocent of heart or sought 
to be. 

In Proverbs 15:1, we read, “A soft answer turneth away 
wrath.” All Christian workers should cultivate their voices. 
They should be perfectly natural and not assume any lofty 
airs, such as the rolling of their voices in big-sounding tones. 
The story is told of a minister’s wife who reproved her hus- 
band, at home one day, for reading the newspaper in his 
“Scripture” voice. There is music and power in the voice. 

These three: 


1. Tue Menrat Frame, 
2. Tur Face, 
3. Tue Voice, 


are the most powerful agencies by which we communicate 
this unconscious teaching. If we were to draw a line be- 


78 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


low them and add, in order to find their sum, it probably 


could not be expressed in one word. The nearest word I 
know would be, “Atmosphere” or possibly, “Radiation.” 
The influence of such a life is breathed. “The very pres- 
ence of some people is a sanctuary.” It was said of Robert 
Moffat, the great missionary, when returning from the for- 
eign field in his advanced years, that the people in the 
churches where he was to speak would rise, unbidden, as 
he entered. This was simply the holy influence of a holy 
life. 

The teacher’s power, after all, is the sum of what he 
is. ‘The best part of our teaching is done unconsciously. 
Some one said, “It was the way Henry Drummond laid 
his hand on my shoulder that made a Christian out of me.’ 
No wonder the people of Labrador almost worship Wilfred 
Grenfell. It is because he has taught them the way to 
God by his poured-out life. 

Teacher, what is your total impression on your class? 
Remember, the roots of all moral strength run back under 
the soil of self-sacrifice and right living. The Apostle Paul 
said repeatedly, in his letters to the Churches, “Follow me 
as I follow Christ.” Would this be safe for you, for me, 
to say? The teacher should be what he seeks to have his 
scholars become. The world wants a Gospel that it can 
see, for comparatively few are reading the Gospel in The 
Book. 


“You are writing a Gospel, a chapter each day, 
By deeds that you do and words that you say. 
Men read what you write, whether faithless or true, 
Say, what is the Gospel according to you?’ 


“The best binding for the Bible is shoe-leather.” 
A teacher’s life is the life of his teaching. 


os a 


VI 
THE TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART 


It was on a bright day in April, 1904, on the road lead- 
ing south from Nablus—“Shechem,” it was called in Bible 
times. “Now Jacob’s well was there,’ We were pilgrims— 
“Jerusalem pilgrims,’ we called ourselves, for we were 
bound for Jerusalem to attend the great Sunday School 
convention, and were making this last lap of the journey 
on horseback. Our attention was attracted to a cloud of 
dust on the road ahead; then we saw a shepherd with his 
flock and heard the faint, low notes of his crude flute, as 
he slowly led his sheep along. That simple shepherd’s flute, 
which I bought of the shepherd that day, and the shepherd 
himself, have taught me many a lesson and inspired many 
a helpful thought. 

A few days later in our journey, we came to what is now 
ealled “Gideon’s Pool.” This is the reputed spot where 
Gideon’s army was reduced from thirty-two thousand to 
three hundred, to teach the lesson of trust in God rather 
than in the strength of man. We watered our horses in 
this pool, and while there, several shepherds brought their 
flocks for watering. As we tarried a short time for rest, 
T could but observe those shepherds and their flocks. The 
sheep were all mixed up together, not only as they went 
down into the water to drink but as they fed upon the 
tender grass beside the pool. When a shepherd got ready 
to lead his flock away, he simply gave the call which all 
the flock knew, and his flock instantly followed him, all 
the other sheep remaining behind. 


This incident likewise set me to thinking. Of course, I 
79 


80 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


recalled the Shepherd Psalm and the Tenth Chapter of 
John, and in reading them over and trying to think out 
their meaning, I have been much impressed by the lessons 
Sunday School teachers can learn from the Oriental shep- 
herd and particularly from the passages in the Bible re- 
ferred to above. It will add to the interest of this article 
no doubt if the reader will stop long enough to read the 
first part of the Tenth Chapter of John’s Gospel and to 
repeat the Twenty-third Psalm. It is our purpose here to 
draw a few lessons for the Sunday School teacher, based 
upon the Oriental shepherd and upon the record to which 
we have referred. 


I. THE TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART KNOWS 
HIS SCHOLARS 


He knows their names. One of the first tasks to which 
a teacher should address himself, when a new scholar enters 
the class, is to master that scholar’s name, so that neither 
he nor the scholar will be embarrassed in the class. It is 
next to an insult for any teacher to be obliged to say, “Next!” 
or “The boy in the end of the seat,” and at the same time it 
is an indication that the teacher has been careless at that 
point. Boys and girls like to be called by their first name, 
up to a certain age, and then they feel honored when ad- 
dressed as “Mister” or “Miss.” The teacher loses tre- 
mendously who is not able to call his scholars by name. 
Every teacher should carry with him continually a card 
or slip of paper or what is now often called, “A private class 
card,” with the names and addresses of all the pupils upon 
it. He should know their names well enough to be able to 
speak the names without hesitation on the street, as well 
as in the class. A little attention given to this card occa- 
sionally will avoid many embarrassing moments. 

He knows their surroundings. It is almost as difficult 
for a teacher to deal intelligently with a pupil without know- 


TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART 81 


ing his surroundings at home, in school, during the week, 
as it would be for a doctor to treat a case without having 
made a thorough diagnosis. Some homes are a help to the 
pupils—others are a hindrance. Some pupils have much 
leisure, and others have none. Some scholars will have 
parents who are in sympathy with Christian work, others 
parents who care nothing for it and may often ridicule it. 
An occasional visit to the home, to become familiar with 
the scholar’s surroundings and meet the other members of 
the family, will lend greatly to the teacher’s success. 

He knows their peculiarities. Wise teachers know what 
it means to “work with the grain.” This is simply another 
way of saying that in dealing with real life we must follow 
the general trend of that life, so far as it can be done. 
If a teacher knows that a certain pupil has a violent temper 
and is very irascible, he will be very careful not to stir up 
trouble along those lines. If he knows, for example, that 
a scholar’s interests lie along a given line, as, for example, 
pigeons or radio or kites or baseball, he has gained more 
than one good point in the matter of dealing with that 
scholar. It pays to work with the grain. 

He knows their possibilities. This knowledge is not 
gained at once, but comes with time. When the teacher 
has learned the name, surroundings, and peculiarities of 
a scholar, he is in a position to judge pretty accurately as 
to just where that scholar will function in life to the best 
advantage, and will be able to help him accordingly. He 
should have no set rule for the scholars of his class in this 
regard. One scholar may seem to be admirably fitted for 
a literary life, another for business, another for an agri- 
culturist. One may have the right kind of backing and 
material for a preacher or a teacher, while still another will 
be an inventor, and so it goes. It is the height of folly to 
try to induce any young person to follow a line for which 
he has no aptitude or liking. There are altogether too many 
misfits in the world as it is. Square people in round holes, 


82 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


and vice versa, produce turmoil in this world, instead of 
symmetry and satisfaction. 

He knows their needs. Having familiarized himself with 
their names, surroundings, peculiarities, possibilities, like- 
wise other characteristics that grow out of these, such as 
their limitations, etc., he is in a better position to plan for 
them and lead them into the path of healthful endeavor. 
One may need special training along a given line. The 
teacher will recognize this and guide him in that matter, 
helping him to choose the kind of training he needs and 
telling him where it can be found. It is a great thing for 
a Sunday School teacher to be a friend. 

Thus far we have said nothing of the Christian life, and 
yet here is the place where the teacher, most of all, should 
know his scholars. This is really the backing, after all, 
and the foundation preparation for every calling in life, 
and the teacher’s first ambition should be to apply the knowl- 
edge he acquires by knowing his scholars, toward leading 
them into the Christian life, and to identify themselves 
with the Church. It is here, more than anywhere else, that 
he should know their needs. One has been upset perhaps 
by what he has heard, so that his faith in the Bible is some- 
what upset. Another has been misled because perhaps a 
nominal Christian has done things he knows are wrong. 
The wise teacher will study all these cases and seek to 
find the remedy and to guide the pupil into the path that 
leads to safety and in the right direction. 

While claiming that the teacher with the shepherd heart 
should know his scholars, it is equally true that the scholars 
should know their teacher. Just as the sheep know the voice 
of the shepherd and are willing to follow, the scholars should 
know their teacher. The sheep know the shepherd’s voice, 
because they know he has never led them into a place of 
danger. He has always led them to where the pasture is 
good and where the fresh water lies. It is therefore neces- 
sary to know each other. It has been said that Jesus went 


TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART 88 


fishing with Peter, Andrew, James, and John before He 
made them fishers of men. It is very difficult for a teacher 
to know his scholars if he never sees them except on Sunday. 
One eminent Sunday School teacher of boys was asked the 
secret of his success in winning them into the Christian 
life. Huis answer was, “‘I did it by taking walks with them.” 


II. THE TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART LEADS HIS 
SCHOLARS 


The Oriental shepherd never drives his sheep; he leads 

them. He goes before them. If there is danger ahead, he 
is the first to encounter it. The sheep know they can trust 
their shepherd and follow where he leads. 
. The teacher with the shepherd heart leads his scholars 
into right habits of study. His skill is indicated by the 
study he secures from his pupils. Many pupils fail in 
class because they have never been taught how to study. 
The best thing a teacher can do is not to instruct his scholars 
but to teach them how to study for themselves. It is better 
to teach a scholar how to study than to teach him the facts 
he would learn by studying. The facts he acquires for 
himself will stay by him. This requires laying out specific 
work and expecting it to be done, likewise showing how to 
do it wherever that is necessary. The teacher who can get 
his scholars to study will not be troubled with disorder in 
the class, for they have something more important to attend 
to, and something of vital interest. 

He leads them into right habits of thinking. Scholars 
need to be trained along this line, as well as any other. 
Their thinking is apt to be influenced by the latest fad of 
the day or the latest thing they read in the daily paper. 
The teacher can render very great service by teaching his 
scholars how to think. 

He leads them into right habits of Bible reading and of 
prayer. No Christian life can ever be strong without regular 


84 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


habits in this matter. Many a boy or girl loses his or her 
interest in the Bible because he or she does not know how to 
approach it. The feeding of the soul is somewhat like the 
feeding of the body. Not all food is equally helpful at all 
times. The scholars should be taught that regular feeding 
upon God’s Word and regular habits of prayer are the best 
of all ways to fit themselves for the tasks of life and to arm 
themselves against life’s enemies. 

He will lead them into right habits of giving. This in- 
volves the whole principle of stewardship, and there is noth- 
ing more greatly needed in our churches to-day than the 
cultivation of this grace. One generation of young people 
thoroughly trained in the principles of stewardship and the 
art of right giving would go far toward solving the problems 
the Church is confronting to-day. In the development of 
their social life, it should be remembered that boys want 
to be together. The same thing is true of girls. Eight out 
of ten boys from ten to fourteen years of age join a club 
of some sort. This “gang” spirit is the ery for help, and 
boys especially need guidance here and we must capture 
this club or “gang” or “bunch” and turn it into the right 
channels. 

He leads them into right habits of service. He will seek 
to guide the scholars along those lines where they can do 
their best work. When he finds a scholar who appears 
to have the qualifications of a good teacher, he will endeavor 
to lead him in that direction and finally have him placed 
in the training class to finish his preparations for that work. 
He will keep ever in mind the fourfold life of young people, 
and that they are to develop physically, mentally, socially, 
and spiritually, and he will lead them along lines of their 
greatest opportunity and usefulness. 


TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART 85 


Ill THER TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART FEEDS 
HIS SCHOLARS 


Good teaching is the strongest drawing and holding power 
of any Sunday School. It is an old and homely saying but 
the idea is just as true in a Church as on a farm, that “If 
you want your pigs to stay at home, feed them at your own 
_ gate.” 

He feeds his scholars the right food. He knows that much 
teaching, even if it be interesting and hold the attention 
for the time being, is not nutritious and does not strengthen 
their lives. Consequently, he should feed them the kind 
of food they need—not pastry but milk and meat, the kind 
of food that makes manhood and spiritual muscle. Fortu- 
nately, this kind of food is just as palatable as any other, 
if it is prepared and served in the proper way. The teacher 
must know where the good food is, and he must likewise 
know how to prepare it, and let the scholars do their own 
chewing for the most part. Pre-digested foods may be all 
right for feeble stomachs but husky boys and girls are not 
made strong on that kind of diet. 

He knows the right quantity of food to give. Over-feed- 
ing and under-feeding are equally injurious. Under-eating 
makes one feeble; over-eating makes one stupid. 

He feeds them at the right time and in the right way 
and regularly. The writer was, on one occasion, riding 
with a farmer in his heavy wagon, behind two beautiful, 
fat, sleek horses. He remarked upon them and said to the 
owner, “You must give these horses a lot to eat to keep 
them so fat and sleek.” He responded by saying, ‘“No— 
I do not give them too much. I feed them rather sparingly 
but I feed them the right kind of food, in the right quantity, 
at the right time, and regularly.” This is what makes for 
strength, whether in bodies or Christian character, whether 
building up muscle or life. Sunday School teachers need 
to learn this lesson more and more. 


86 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


IV. THE TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART PROTECTS 
HIS SCHOLARS 


There is nothing more pathetic about the Oriental shep- 
herd than his solicitude for the welfare of his sheep. He 
goes armed with his shepherd’s crook and with his sling and 
often with a shepherd’s dog. He knows they have many ene- 
mies, and he knows their propensity likewise to go astray. 
The same is true of folks. Isaiah says, “All we like sheep 
have gone astray,” and every one of us can testify to the 
truth of this statement. 

He protects his scholars from false doctrines. The world 
is full of them. There are propagandists on every corner, 
who are ready to lead our boys and girls astray. They need 
euidance, counsel and sympathy. 

He protects them from low ideals in his effort to inspire 
the very best within them. The ideals he constantly holds 
up before them are those worthy of imitation, and particu- 
larly does he keep ever to the front the highest ideal of all, 
which we find in the Master Himself. 

He protects them from their fool friends. Unfortunately, 
the world is full of faddists, and they are endeavoring to 
lead this way and that way everybody who is willing to 
follow. The scholars need to be put upon their guard, so 
that they may not be led astray by those who happen to 
be interested for the time in this, that, or some other foolish 
adventure or undertaking. 

He protects them from “the beasts of Ephesus” that 
Paul speaks about. We are not sure that we know just 
what Paul meant but some of the modern “beasts of Ephe- 
sus” carry the names of “gambling,” “cigarettes,” ‘“‘low 
theaters,” “bad books,” ‘bad companions,” ete. He tries to 
make them understand that just as the charred stick leaves a 
black mark on your hand, when you grasp it, so bad books 
and bad company leave a stain upon your life. 


TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART 87 


VY. THE TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART SEEKS 
HIS SCHOLARS 


Nothing is more touching in the Bible accounts of the 
shepherd than his solicitude for those who have gone astray 
or have forsaken the fold. We see the shepherd leaving the 
ninety-and-nine who are safely housed, and seeking the one 
that is far away upon the hills at night. We learn from 
Matthew’s Gospel that the shepherd yearns for these lost 
sheep, and Luke tells us that he seeks for the lost sheep 
“until he find it.” In the beautiful song we sing, we re- 
member the words: 


“But none of the ransomed ever knew 
How deep were the waters crossed ; 
Nor how dark was the night that the 

Lord passed through, 
Fre He found His sheep that was lost.” 


He seeks the absentees. Here is the weakest point in our 
Sunday School work. It is well known that the average 
Sunday School changes its personnel approximately twenty- 
five per cent. every year, and nearly all of these are lost 
to the school because they are not looked after when they 
are absent. It ought to be the rule of every teacher, and 
of every school, that not a single absence must occur but 
that there should be a visit or some account taken of the 
absence—if not by visit, then by writing or by telephone. 
If the scholar is absent because of sickness, this may be the 
bending of the grain for your sickle. Our Sunday Schools 
ought to be a little harder to get into, and a good deal harder 
to get out of. A friend of the writer’s, on one occasion, had 
been telling his little boy the Bible story of the sheep that 
went astray. To make it a little more real to the boy, he 
indicated that the sheep probably got out through a hole 
in the fence. The boy listened with keen interest, and when 


88 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


the story was finished and the shepherd had found his sheep 
and brought him home, very wisely asked, ‘‘Well, Papa, did 
he fix the fence then?’ Scholars are dropping out of our 
Sunday Schools by the thousand, indeed, by the million 
every year in our own country, and it ought not so to be. 

How often should we follow up an absent scholar? Fortu- 
nately, we have a good answer for this. We ought to follow 
them up as often as our Lord Jesus Christ follows us when 
we ourselves go astray and wander away from His fold and 
loving care. Here is the teacher’s challenge, for there is 
nothing that will hold these scholars to the Sunday School 
and the Church like anchoring them to Jesus Christ as their 
Saviour and Great Shepherd. 


VI. THE TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART GIVES 
HIS LIFE FOR HIS SCHOLARS 


In the Tenth Chapter of St. John, Jesus bases His claim 
upon His own statement of being the Good Shepherd, that 
He gives His life for the sheep. This is what Jesus actually 
did, and the real teacher does the same thing, in a way. We 
are not asked to lay down our bodily lives for those we are 
trying to win, and yet many of our missionaries are doing 
that very thing. As an illustration, a touching example of 
this, recall sainted Dr. Shelton in Tibet. 

He lives for his scholars, and living for Him is giving 
his life for them. The teacher who carries his scholars 
in his heart continually, thinking about them, planning for 
them, praying for them, is actually giving his life for his 
scholars. These things simply indicate that he is carrying 
them in his heart, and that he lives for their welfare. 
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down 
his life for his friends.” It is comparatively easy to lay 
down one’s bodily life, but it requires far greater consecra- 
tion and devotion to give one’s life in unselfish and untiring 


TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART 89 


service for those we are trying to lead and save. The real 
teacher lives to the point of sacrifice, and this is, after all, 
real teaching. 

Many of the readers will remember that wonderful old 
man, Peter Cartwright, who built himself into the lives of 
so many people of this country, a generation or so ago, be- 
cause of his devotion to the boys and girls of the Sunday 
Schools with which he was connected, and, indeed, all the 
boys and girls who came to know him. On one occasion 
when a visitor was asking the scholars in a certain Sunday 
School some questions, he gave them this, “Who is the Great 
Shepherd?” and, without hesitation, one of the young girls 
called out, “Peter Cartwright!” And, indeed, he was the 
great shepherd to thousands of boys and girls; that is, he 
was not the Great Shepherd but a great shepherd, and this 
is the challenge for all the teachers and workers who read 
these words. 

The Sunday School teacher who knows his scholars, who 
leads his scholars, who feeds his scholars, who protects his 
scholars, who seeks his scholars, who gives his life for his 
scholars, is the teacher with the shepherd heart, and he will 
have abundant occasion for rejoicing, not only in this world, 
but in the world to come. 


MY SHEPHERD 


The King of love my Shepherd is, 
Whose goodness faileth never; 

I nothing lack if I am His 
And He is mine forever. 


Where streams of living water flow 
My ransomed soul He leadeth, 

And, where the verdant pastures grow, 
With food celestial feedeth. 


90 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, 
But yet in love He sought me, 

And on His shoulder gently laid, 
And home, rejoicing, brought me. 


And so through all the length of days, 
Thy goodness faileth never: 
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise 
Within Thy house for ever. 
—H. W, Baxer. 


VII 


THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER BETWEEN 
SUNDAYS 


No Sunday School teacher is a real teacher on Sunday, 
who is a teacher only on Sunday. He must be a teacher 
all the week, or his Sunday work will count for but little. 
The teacher’s hardest work and, by far, the most of it, is 
during the week. The teacher’s true value on Sunday de- 
pends on what is done on the week-days by way of prepara- 
tion—planning, thinking, and praying. 

It is impossible to make even an ordinary lesson effective 
without thorough preparation, and this takes time. When 
the artery is severed and the life-blood gushing forth, the 
doctor has no time to seek out his books and read there the 
directions as to what he should do in that emergency. He 
must know before the emergency arises. The same is true 
of the soldier, the lawyer, the engineer. Their value de- 
pends upon their being ready. 

The Sunday work of a teacher is more like the dress- 
parade, while the work during the week is where most of 
the real battles are fought. But what shall a teacher do 
between the sessions of the school ? 


I, REVIEW THE WORK OF THE LAST SUNDAY 


Go over it item by item. Was my class a failure to-day ? 
Why? Who was it made the trouble? Was the temperature 
wrong or the atmosphere bad? Were there interruptions 
that should not have been? Was the fault with me or with 
the scholars? Try to locate the trouble, if it was really a 
failure in any respect, so that those things may be avoided 


on another Sunday. 
91 


92 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Was your class a success? If a success, what made it 
so? Were you better prepared than usual? Were the schol- 
ars better prepared? Were the conditions more favorable ? 
Go over the whole thing in detail, seeking to find the things 
that should be avoided and the things that should be re- 
peated, not only as to your teaching, but in discipline, gen- 
eral service, and in the spirit of the school. Did some 
untoward event happen that set the scholars laughing and 
diverted interest? How can that incident or a similar one 
be used next time to advantage ? 

Was I really in command of the class, or did they run 
away from me? No doubt you prayed earnestly before you 
went to the class. Did you pray while you were teaching 
and after you were through, not publicly but by yourself? 
We remember that the Disciples whom Jesus sent out two by 
two, for the purpose of making a tour of Galilee, came back 
and reported to Him after the tour was made. 

All plans for the class period should be well thought out, 
properly digested, and thoroughly mastered, so that there 
will be no hesitation or delay when in the presence of the 
scholars. 


II. LOOK UP THE ABSENTEES 


This is the weakest point in the modern Sunday School. 
More scholars are lost to the Sunday School because ab- 
sentees are not followed up than from all other sources 
combined. As already stated, the personnel of the average 
Sunday School changes twenty-five per cent. annually, and 
chiefly because of failure to look up the absent scholars. 

It should be the rule in every Sunday School that no 
absence should ever go unnoted. How should this be done? 


1. By a Visit 


A visit to the home on the part of the teacher is worth 
a basketful of letters. It shows an interest that letters can- 


THE TEACHER BETWEEN SUNDAYS 93 


not convey. Not only that, but it gives the teacher a famil- 
larity with conditions at home that will help him in dealing 
with that particular scholar. A certain teacher was having 
trouble with a scholar because of irregularity. He called 
upon him and found him busy looking after his pigeons. 
He would stay home from Sunday School whenever he 
got a chance to take care of his pigeons. The teacher 
learned, by a visit, that pigeons were his chief interest. He 
immediately began to post up on pigeons, procuring a book 
on the subject. Then he would visit the boy and talk to 
him intelligently about the pigeons. This won the boy, be- 
cause pigeons made so large a part of his life. He had 
no trouble with that boy afterwards, for they had a common 
interest. 

Miss Slattery tells the story of little Jamie, who gave 
much trouble in the classroom, and the assistant was for 
dismissing him, but Miss Slattery insisted that she should 
make a visit to the home first. She found that the little 
fellow had no father; his mother was poor and had to take 
in washing for a living. There was a little baby in the 
home, and Jamie was the mother’s only help. Immediately, 
when the mother learned that Jamie’s teacher was calling, 
she burst forth, as mothers do, with the expression, “Ain’t 
Jamie grand!” Then she went on to rehearse Jamie’s 
virtues. At that moment, he was rocking the baby, so 
Mother could wash. She said that he always went after 
the clothes and took them home again and brought her all 
the money, without stopping at the grocery to spend a cent 
for candy or anything else. He carried the coal and water 
for his mother; he worked before school and after school, 
consequently had no time to play. It was a perfectly natural 
thing for him to explode sometimes in school and disturb 
matters dreadfully, but when they learned the situation at 
home, they allowed him to have extra play times, so that 
he could work off some of his extra energy, and this rem- 
edied the matter. 


94 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS > 


Familiarity with the home life of the scholar is a great 
asset in Sunday School teaching. Nothing can take its place. 


2. By Telephone or a Personal Letter 


Next to a personal visit is a telephone call, but unfortu- 
nately, especially in poorer families, there is often no tele- 
phone in the home of the scholar. If a call is absolutely out 
of the question, then a pen-written letter should be sent. 
This letter should be friendly—not scolding, taking it for 
granted pupils have a good reason for their absence, rehears- 
ing some incident, in the letter, that will be interesting. 

It will be all the better if this letter is on Sunday School 
stationery, with the name of the school in print. 


38. By a Printed Card or Letter or Sending Word 
Through Others 


Scholars have a right to be looked up, and teachers neg- 
leat this part of their work to their peril. Some years ago, 
in one of our great papers, was a record of the following 
incident: A boy, living in a village where there were two 
Sunday Schools, did not want to attend one Sunday and, 
after a good deal of persuasion, his mother allowed him to 
have his way. Monday evening, when he came home from 
school, he asked if his Sunday School teacher had been there 
to look after him. The mother said she had not. The boy 
said, “That’s strange.” Tuesday night, he asked the same 
question, and so on every day during the week. On Sunday 
morning, he said, ‘Mother, I think I’ll go to the other 
Sunday School. My teacher pretends to think a lot of us 
boys, but I don’t think it amounts to much, if she can let 
one of us be gone a whole week without paying any attention 
to it.” The boy’s reasoning was correct. 

Our great leader of earlier days, B. F. Jacobs, when a 
superintendent, in looking over the class card of a certain 


THE TEACHER BETWEEN SUNDAYS 95 


teacher, found the word “left”? written after the name of 
an absentee who had been gone for several Sundays. He 
asked the teacher where the boy was. The teacher replied, 
“Why, he has left. I don’t know where he is. I can’t teach 
the boys if they do not come! He’s left.” Mr. Jacobs, 
though a very busy man, took the name and address and 
called on that boy that week. He found the boy had had 
an accident, falling from a beam in a building that was 
under construction and badly cutting his head. The injury 
was so great, they thought for a time he would die. Mr. 
Jacobs, without saying any more to the teacher, went back 
to the Church and taking the class card, wrote after the 
word “left,” “by a careless teacher, with a hole in his head, 
to die.” It was a severe lesson, but it is easy to believe the 
teacher never forgot it ! 

If the absentee is sick, all the more reason for looking 
after him. Here’s a nae opportunity to take a bunch ae 
flowers or a little fruit or some papers, anything to let 
the scholar know that you are thinking about him. It may 
be that this sickness is the finest opportunity you will ever 
have to win him. 

If the teacher cannot look up the absentees, somebody 
else should do it. It never should be left to a haphazard 
arrangement, perhaps the Church Visitor or the Boy Scout 
messengers, but some way should be found to pay attention 
to every single absence. 


III. PLAN WORK FOR THE SCHOLARS 


If the lessons are made sufficiently attractive, the scholars 
will be willing to do a little specific work. Perhaps some 
of it will be written. It may be questions to be answered, 
printed or written, on a little slip. It may be an outline 
map to draw, or something to do for somebody else. 

It is not necessary to give all of the scholars the same 
task. Whenever any work of this sort is laid out to be 


96 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


done during the week, it is a great mistake not to call for 
it on the following Sunday, for if you do not call for it, 
the scholars will not be likely to do the thing the next time 
you ask it of them. 

Tt may be you have a ¢lipping you would like to have 
read in the class next Sunday. Give this to one of the 
scholars and tell him to become familiar with it, so it can 
be read in the class next Sunday. 


IV. CULTIVATE THE SOCIAL SIDE 


Be interested in what the scholars are interested in. If 
they are in school and are greatly interested in a basketball 
game that week, try to attend it if you can. It is a principle 
that the way to gain interest is to manifest interest. One 
fine thing is to have them at your home occasionally. Noth- 
ing can take the place of this. When they are there, they 
should not be preached to, nor preached at. Just see that 
they have a happy time. Of course, the teacher will not 
neglect the opportunity to exert a good influence. There 
may be a story read that will create a good atmosphere. 
There may be some singing about the piano, allowing the 
scholars to sing any of their school songs, but ending with 
one or more of their Sunday School songs. Light refresh- 
ments are always fine, and open the way for something else 
in the way of good influence. 

If the scholars are of the proper age, there might be 
formed a little society or club or class organization. It 
can give its attention to literary matters, athletics, or any- 
thing, in fact, that will hold their attention and interest 
them. The class organization will go far to accomplish this. 

By any means and all means, the teacher should keep close 
to the scholars, know their home life, their surroundings, 
their likes and dislikes. The successful teacher quoted said 
that he won his boys by taking walks with them. At the 


— se, 


THE TEACHER BETWEEN SUNDAYS 97 


proper time of year, could anything be more delightful 
or helpful, whether the class is composed of boys or girls, 
than for them to take a hike into the woods or have a 
nutting party or gather samples of beautiful leaves or 
flowers? All of these things are helpful, and may be used 
to the glory of God. 


VY. PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE WORK AHEAD 


This means the home study of the teacher, and there is 
enough right here to keep him busy during the entire week. 
There is not only the regular study of the lesson but the 
general reading and study. Possibly there is a class to 
attend in teacher-training. This would be fine if he could 
attend it. There are books that may be read, on different 
phases of teaching—books about the Sunday School, and 
Bible study books, and other books that will help the teacher 
to keep in touch with the great Sunday School movements 
of the day. Of course, there is the special preparation of 
next Sunday’s lesson, and that will take a lot of time. There 
is the gathering of the material and the arranging of it, 
keeping the scholars in mind and eliminating of such ma- 
terial as is not adapted to the class. 

The teacher will be wise if he sets apart a certain amount 
of time every day for the study of the lesson. All of these 
things will take a great deal of time. 

The lesson will need to be arranged, suitable illustrations 
gathered. A wise teacher will prepare a great deal more 
than there will be time to use. No one can teach with 
power and teach to the limit of his knowledge. It will be 
well likewise to make notes of the preparation that has been 
made, though these should not be used in the class if it 
can be avoided. 

Thorough lesson preparation involves thinking, reading, 
writing, and much prayer. My good friend, Dr. Griflith- 


98 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Thomas, gave me the following outline which emphasizes 
what I have in mind. It has to do with the preparation of 
a Sunday School lesson or the making of an address: 


“Think yourself empty. 
“Read yourself full. 
“Write yourself clear. 
“Pray yourself hot.” 


VIII 
THE TEACHER AT THE GRINDSTONE 


The chief and central feature of every properly conducted 
Sunday School is the teaching of God’s Word. 

Who does the teaching? The teacher. It naturally fol- 
lows that the teacher is the highest and most important officer 
in any Sunday School. Some superintendents will object 
to this statement no doubt, but nevertheless it is true. The 
superintendent outranks the teacher only in an executive 
capacity. Good teachers make a good Sunday School. That 
superintendent is the best superintendent whose chief con- 
cern is to secure plenty of good teachers for his school; 
sees to it that they are properly chosen, properly trained, 
and properly inducted into their office, and properly pro- 
tected while they do their work. The importance of the 
teacher cannot be overestimated. Emerson said, “Let me 
select the teacher, and I care not who arranges the course 
of study.” It is essential, therefore, that the teacher should 
recognize the importance of the position and thoroughly 
quality himself to fill the place adequately. 

This involves preparation and training. It is said that 
eight pounds of steel will make an ax, but eight pounds of 
steel is not an ax. It requires three things—shape, edge, and 
polish. This is what preparation does for a Sunday School 
teacher. Time spent at the grindstone makes the work 
easier. The teacher is the hinge on which the Sunday School 
swings, and if the teacher is trained, the hinge is oiled, and 
the work is apt to go more smoothly. We cannot overesti- 
mate the office of a teacher. 

The purpose of this chapter is to exalt the office of the 
Sunday School teacher and the necessity of ample and 


adequate preparation. Jesus Christ chose to be a teacher, 
99 


100 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


and since His day the office of teacher is accompanied with 
high dignity. Indeed, in His last commission, just before 
He went back to His Father, He said, “‘Go ye into all the 
world,” “Teach all nations.’ This command is upon us 
to-day. In Daniel 12:38, we read, “And they that be wise 
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they 
that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and 
ever.” In any reference Bible will be found an optional 
reading for the word, “wise,” and that word is, ‘‘teachers.” 
By putting in that word, the verse would read, “And they 
that be teachers shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
ment, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars 
forever and ever.” Perhaps the true meaning is, “They 
that be wise to teach,” embodying the significance of both 
words. Truly, teaching God’s Word is high business. 

A great London preacher said, on one occasion, ‘‘You must 
learn the why of your work on your knees, before God; the 
what of the teaching from the Bible; the how from your 
common sense, reading, practice, and the experience of 
others.” When we appreciate the office of teacher, we shall 
come to appreciate the need of preparation. Christ was 
thirty years preparing for three years of public life. The 
doctor, the lawyer, the professional man along any line, 
spends years and years of hard study and application, that 
he may be efficient when the crucial moment arrives. 

Miss Slattery’s story of the drowning girl already quoted 
furnishes a good application. None of those who were 
present when she was drawn down by the undertow knew 
what to do to resuscitate her when her body was recovered 
and laid upon the shore; but when a nurse came, she knew 
what to do, and did it, so that when the doctor came, a 
few minutes later, he congratulated the nurse, and said, 
“You. have saved a life because you knew how.” The laws 
of teaching can be acquired as truly as we acquire the laws 
of physics, and the teacher that is wise will prepare. Lack 
of preparation turns all teaching into drudgery, while thor- 


THE TEACHER AT THE GRINDSTONE 101 


ough preparation makes it a satisfying pleasure. Training 
and preparation are like the grindstone; they may be pain- 
ful, but they pay. 


Ie GENERAL PREPARATION NEEDED 


First, we need a general knowledge of the Bible. 

Second, we need a knowledge of the laws of teaching. 

Third, there must be a knowledge of psychology, or a 
study of the mind. 

All of these are dealt with in the ordinary teacher-train- 
ing courses, as well as a knowledge and history of the 
Sunday School movement and its management. It ought 
to be the rule in every Sunday School that every teacher 
should take a training course, and many schools are coming 
to require it. It pays to know how. 

In addition to the general training, the teacher should 
read, systematically and intelligently. He should have a 
growing and carefully selected workers’ library. All of our 
church publishing houses now are issuing, in large numbers, 
books that are exceedingly helpful for Sunday School teach- 
ers. ‘The school is wise that provides a workers’ library, 
with an ample supply of helpful books for the use of its 
workers. Every teacher should read at least one good book 
a quarter, along the line of his work. He will do well 
if he reads more, but he should not read more than he can 
digest. It will be well if he takes several Sunday School 
periodicals likewise and reads them. It goes without say- 
ing that he will study his Bible and carefully prepare each 
specific lesson. The greatest need in our church work to-day 
is for trained teachers. ‘“‘We want teachers who will put 
their whole minds into their preparation, their whole souls 
into their presentation, and their whole life into their illus- 
tration.” In nine cases out of ten, or even more, where Sun- 
day School classes fail, it has been because of poor teaching 
and poor management. The game of winning the world 


102 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


to God is a bigger game than war or politics. The fact that 
the work of a Sunday School teacher is voluntary does not 
lessen the obligation. 

This general preparation involves study, reading, observa- 
tion, and practice. Love never asks, “How much must I 
do?” but, “How much can I do?” There are large places 
in the world and in the Church for the man or woman who 
is ready, and the Church must take this matter seriously. 


II. SPECIFIC PREPARATION 


This refers to the preparation of next Sunday’s lesson, 
and that is absolutely necessary. No amount of general 
knowledge will suffice. There must be the specific prepara- 
tion of each specific lesson, with a specific class in mind. 
It has been said that in the teaching of every class, whether 
in Sunday School or public school, somebody must suffer. 
If the teacher does not suffer before the lesson begins, the 
scholars are apt to suffer during the lesson and afterwards. 
Teaching is hard work and requires a great deal of labor 
and application. 


Ill. HOW TO PREPARE 


1. Gather the material. This will be gathered from the 
Bible itself and from the lesson helps as well. The first 
study should be from the Bible itself, and later from the 
helps. The best creed as to the use of lesson helps I ever 
heard was given by that grand preacher of Bristol, England, 
Richard Glover, at the World’s First Sunday School Con- 
vention in London in ’89. Here are three sentences of that 
wonderful address: 


THE TEACHER AT THE GRINDSTONE 1038 


‘Use lesson helps but do not depend on lesson helps.” 
“Use lesson helps with the Bible and not apart from 
the Bible.” 
“Those lesson helps are best which set you think- 
ing, not those which save you thinking.” 


In gathering the material, there will be good use for pad 
and pencil. 

2. Arrange the material. The teacher should have the 
last lesson, and also the coming lesson in mind, likewise the 
class itself. He will find that he has gathered much more 
material than he can use; so the process of elimination will 
be necessary. In arranging the material, the teacher will 
need to decide upon the lesson theme, the approach, develop- 
ment, illustrations, conclusion, application, ete. Much de- 
pends upon a proper approach. The teacher should not 
dump out his material upon the class, like pouring apples into 
a basket. The approach should be catchy, sharp as a fish- 
hook, so that it will hold the minute it strikes, but it should 
be also like a harpoon that will make it hold when it is in. 
Curiosity will play an important part in the arranging of 
your material, so as to catch attention from the very start. 

3. Concentrate on the central truth, or the one thing you 
want to teach to each pupil. No one can tell what the 
central truth is for any given lesson or class. It may not 
be the most important truth in the lesson, nor is it always 
the one indicated in the lesson help. It is the truth in 
the lesson that the scholars most need. 

4. Do not undertake to teach too much. Many lessons 
are spoiled in this way. It is better to teach one truth in a 
dozen ways or from a dozen angles than to try to teach a 
dozen truths in one lesson. That simply cannot be done. 
A carpenter in making a joint will drive a few nails. He 
will drive them clear through and clinch them on the back. 
Well he knows that too many nails will split the boards 
and spoil the joint. The fixing of one truth so that the 


104 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


scholars will remember it is a big day’s work. Old Quin- 
tilian said, “Not that which I may remember constitutes 
knowledge, but that wuich I can never forget.” 

5. Remember the time limit. Usually the teacher has 
but thirty minutes for the teaching of the lesson, and the 
lesson should be prepared and the material arranged, with 
this in mind. “Plan your work, and work your plan.” The 
teacher should get through and complete the lesson in the 
allotted time. It often happens that teachers will take verse 
by verse and try to get some good points out of each verse, 
with the result that they never get through, and usually 
only cover two or three verses. It is the teacher’s business, 
however, to complete his lesson; not to teach all there is 
in it, but to teach what he started out to teach, and the 
lesson plan should be formed with that in mind. The teacher 
who undertakes to get a truth out of every verse of a given 
lesson usually teaches nothing. 

6. Have a definite aim. Plan for the particular needs 
of your scholars. Keep the main thing in view, and put. 
first things first. Every scholar in the class has specific 
needs. Some need warning, others comfort, others counsel, 
others maybe reproof. The wise teacher will generally find 
in the ordinary lesson the thing that each particular scholar 
needs, and this fitting the lesson to the needs of the scholar 
is what will secure the best results. In the teacher’s target 
will be found, in the outer rings no doubt, the lesson story, 
geography, incidents, dates, etc., but the bull’s-eye of every 
such target is a life that must be helped. We should keep 
close to the essential truths of the lesson, dwelling upon 
those that are best adapted to the class and most needed 
by them. <A sound, stable, Christian character must have 
a groundwork of intelligent knowledge of God’s Word and 
what He requires of us. Put yourself in the scholar’s place. 
Try to see the lesson from his standpoint. Try to build 
the lesson into his life. This can be done only as we share 
the scholar’s viewpoint. 


THE TEACHER AT THE GRINDSTONE 105 


IV. SOME HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS 


1. Begin early. It is better to begin the preparation 
of the lesson a week or more in advance. Indeed, it is well, 
at the beginning of a quarter, to make a general survey of 
the lessons of the entire quarter, so that they will not be a 
crazy patchwork, but parts of a symmetrical whole. It goes 
without saying that no lesson can be taught as it should be 
taught by a hurried preparation on Saturday night. Begin 
early in the week. Then the lesson will be in the teacher’s 
mind, and as he thinks of it, about his daily tasks, illus- 
trations will come to him that will be helpful, and many 
of the crudities of hurried preparation will disappear. 

2. Study the lesson daily. It is better to spend a little 
time upon the lesson each day than the same amount of 
time at one sitting, whether that be early or late in the 
week. Possibly one day can be set apart for the Bible 
study, another day for studying the lesson help, another 
day for illustrations, another day for the framing of ques- 
tions, etc. Ten minutes a day will accomplish far more 
than a longer time at one sitting late in the week. 

8. Use your Bible first, your lesson helps later. When 
one uses the lesson help first or exclusively, he is apt to 
appropriate others’ thoughts and not put any real original 
thought into the lesson. This is greatly to his disadvantage, 
because he teaches in a parrot-like fashion and without any 
originality. In reading the lesson over from the Bible it is 
well to read it specifically. Read it first for the story, 
second for the incidents, third for the persons mentioned, 
fourth for the practical teachings, etce., all the while making 
notes. Then, when one comes to the lesson helps, he will 
see a great deal more there than he saw at first, because he 
is getting light on what he has already covered in his Bible- 
reading and original study. He will discover that many of 
the things mentioned in the lesson help he has already 


106 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


thought of, and he will have the satisfaction of not follow- 
ing somebody else but of blazing a way for himself. 

4, Prepare copiously. It is a principle of teaching that 
nobody can teach tothe limit of his knowledge and teach 
with power. The forceful lesson is one that does not cover 
all of the material provided. It is noticeable that when the 
water-faucet is turned, the water comes out with great power, 
and possibly will splash all over you. It is not the water 
that actually comes out, but the great pressure of water 
from behind, that tries to get out and cannot, that makes 
what does come out come with such power and force. It 
is exactly so in teaching. No teacher can teach well who 
does not have more material than he has time to give, and 
is conscious of that fact. Should any unforeseen question 
or incident arise in the class, his thorough preparation pre- 
pares him for it. Of course, the teacher will not be able 
to teach all he prepares, but he should prepare more than 
he can teach. This does not mean that he is to spoil his 
lesson plan by dragging in a good many things that would 
be interesting and helpful, but to hold in reserve those 
things that may be needed to drive the lesson home. 

5. Prepare prayerfully. Every lesson is a new oppor- 
tunity. very time the teacher faces the class, he is con- 
fronted with as many opportunities as there are pupils. It 
is well to think of those pupils individually and to have 
them in mind and in prayer while the lesson is being pre- 
pared. How will this lesson fit Charlie or Mary? What 
can I find that will encourage this boy who is discouraged 
now? Prayer will lead to the solution. Then there needs 
to be prayer for ourselves as teachers, the prayer of the 
Psalmist, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold won- 
drous things out of thy law.” There should be prayer that 
our own minds and hearts may receive the truth and be 
able to apply it, so that it will be most effective, to the 
scholars in the class. 

6. The teacher should prepare himself. No lesson will 


THE TEACHER AT THE GRINDSTONE 107 


be a really helpful lesson to the class that has not been a 
helpful lesson to the teacher. The application of the lesson 
should be backward, toward the teacher, before it will go 
forward, toward the class. “What has this lesson taught 
me?’ is a good question for the teacher to ask. “How has 
it helped me?” “Am I better qualified for my work, after 
studying this lesson, than I was before?” “Am I an ex- 
emplification of the truth I am trying to give the scholars?” 
“I am trying to teach them to be patient; am I patient?” 
“T am trying to teach them to be studious; am I studious 2” 
“I am trying to teach them to have a real purpose in their 
lives; do I have that?’ Really, this is the crucial part of 
a teacher’s preparation, for after all, the teacher’s life is 
the life of his teaching. 

And then, throughout all of the lesson preparation and 
lesson teaching, there should run the central cord of love, 
just as the scarlet thread is found in the center of all the 
cordage used by Great Britain’s navy. Love is the hammer 
that breaks the hardest heart. There is nothing but what 
will yield if we will put love enough into it. This brings 
out very clearly the sacrificial part of the teacher’s work. 
No teacher can put his lesson into the minds and hearts 
of his scholars until he has put himself into the lesson. 

Perhaps, in closing, I can emphasize some of the truths 
indicated above by telling of one of the best Sunday School 
teachers probably we know anything about. It was the late 
Ex-Lieut.-Govy. James E. Howard of Connecticut. For 
many, many years he taught a class in a Baptist Sunday 
School. It was proverbial that rarely ever was there a mem- 
ber of his class who did not become a Christian if he was 
not one before, and join the Church. Hundreds and hun- 
dreds, under the spell of his wonderful teaching and life, 
gave their hearts to God. The writer, on one occasion, had 
the privilege of standing on the platform underneath the 
portrait of this godly man in a church in Hartford, Con- 


108 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


necticut, and speaking to the audience, of his great useful- 
ness and exceptional success as a Sunday School teacher. 

On one occasion. when Governor Howard was asked the 
secret of his success, he simply said, “I have no secret. I 
just keep shelling my pod of P’s all the time.” When asked 
to explain his pod of P’s, he simply said, “There are five 
P’s in my pod, and I keep shelling them all the time and 
in this order: 


“PLAN 
““PREPARE 
“PRAY 
“Pour ouT 
AN EA nee 8x bots 


These five P’s really cover, in condensed form, the substance 
of what we have said above. It will be noticed that the 
middle ‘‘P” stands for “Prayer,” and it is this that domi- 
nated the life of this great teacher. 


IX 
THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION 


An illustration should illustrate. This sounds like a very 
trite saying, but the fundamental principle underlying illus- 
tration is contained therein. An illustration to a lesson 
is ike a window to a house. Windows in houses nowadays 
are not designed for ventilation but for light. An illustra- 
tion should be like a flash of lightning on a dark night, 
revealing the path where it is safe to go. Consequently, 
illustrations should be used sparingly. A house that is all 
windows is a very poor house. Likewise a lesson that is 
made up of illustrations, one after the other, is a poorly 
framed lesson. 

An illustration should never be used for the sole purpose 
of giving an illustration. It should never be used unless 
an illustration is needed. It is not uncommon for Sunday 
School teachers to come across a very fine incident or story 
in their reading which they think would help them to inter- 
est their scholars, and, at once, the lesson for the day is 
either forgotten or is twisted out of its natural channels 
so as to fit the illustration they have in hand. I heard of 
a man once who had only one story that he could tell and 
that was about guns. When he was in a company of people 
where stories were the order of the hour, and it seemed to 
be his turn to tell a story, he would have no story at hand 
on the general subject of the other stories. So, with appar- 
ent indifference, he would say that he had no story to tell, 
and at the same time would stretch himself and snap his 
fingers, then say, as he snapped his fingers, ‘““That sounds 
like a gun. Now, speaking of guns reminds me of a story.” 
Then he would exhaust his stock of stories by telling the 


only one he knew and that was about guns. 
109 


110 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS | 


Before giving an illustration in a Sunday School lesson, 
two questions should always be asked: First, “Is an illus- 
tration needed ?’’ Second, “Have I one that will fit?” If 
these two questions can be answered in the affirmative, 
then give the illustration, but not otherwise. An illustra- 
tion should be simple, clear, and easily understood. If it 
must be explained, it is a poor illustration or poorly told. 
Du Bois has said that an illustration should be apt, vivid, 
and wholesome; that is, it should fit, it should really illus- 
trate, and it should leave a good impression. On this ac- 
count, the writer has wholly abandoned all stories and illus- 
trations, in his public addresses, that would tend to send 
anybody away feeling badly. This means that no stories 
about stuttering people or referring to deformities, such as 
hunchbacks, hair-lips, club-feet, etc., will ever be told. It 
is not kind nor Christian to send some unfortunate person 
away from the meeting feeling that you might have made 
your point without reminding him of his infirmity. This 
is what it means to give a wholesome illustration. 

Illustrations should be positive, rather than negative. 
“Don’ts” are found altogether too much in the diet of 
our children. Many a “don’t” simply suggests a “do,” and 
there is a sort of perversity in children that leads them 
to do the very thing they are told not to do. I am right 
well acquainted with a young woman to whom, as a little 
girl, her mother said, “Don’t poke beans up your nose.” 
Not long after that the doctor had to be called to get that 
bean out! When Mother says to her little boy, as she goes 
out to make calls, “Don’t go near that vase. That’s a very 
precious vase. Mamma prizes it highly,” it is altogether 
possible that when she comes home she will gather that 
vase up in the dust pan, while all the rest will be intact. 

This seems to be the perversity of human nature. I heard 
of a woman one time who was so given to “don’ting” her 
children that she said to her maid, “Mary, go and see what 
the children are doing and tell them to stop it this minute!” 


THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION 5 ata! 


We are often asked where we can find good illustrations, 
To be sure, there are many books that are filled with illustra- 
tions, and some of them are very fine, but the writer, in his 
‘own work, has found that for public address the best illustra- 
tions are taken from daily life and experience. Looking from 
the car window reveals illustrations by the score. Passing 
your window is a freight-car coming down the track, with 
aman on top at the brake-wheel. How well that illustrates 
starting a boy in life. That car was started by the engine, 
started in the direction in which the engineer wanted it to 
go. There is a man on top of it, at the brake-wheel, to 
stop it at the right place, perhaps at the elevator. What 
that engineer did for the car, the home and the father and 
mother and the teacher should do for the boy or girl—start 
them on the right track and in the right direction, with 
power enough to carry them to their destination and beyond, 
but with a controlling hand, which we call “conscience 
and reason,” to stop them in the right place. 

Can we get any illustrations through the car window as 
we see a man spraying an orchard? Can we apply that to 
life? What are the ruinous insects that destroy one’s life? 
What kind of spraying is needed to save the fruit ? 

What does it mean when, through the car window, you 
are passing a cemetery and see a woman, dressed in black, 
standing by a new-made grave? 

What a fine illustration is found in the scores and scores 
of sparrows sitting on telegraph wires? They are chatter- 
ing, chattering away, busy as can be with their own little 
chatter, and yet wholly unconscious of the great world mes- 
sages that are passing through the very wire on which they 
stand. Is this not like those churches that are so busy with 
their own affairs, they haven’t time for the great, world- 
wide challenge of the Gospel? 

The sign at the railway crossing, “Stop! Loox! Lus- 
TEN !”’—is that not a fine illustration? Could one have a 
better text for a talk to boys or girls than that? It may 


112 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


not be generally known that the great railroad that first 
adopted it offered a prize of $2,500.00, we are told, for the 
best railroad crossing sign, and this is the one that was 
adopted. Hence, those little words cost over $800.00 apiece. 
Did that mean anything ? 

What can we learn from the flagman who runs back when 
the train stops; from the bell-cord that runs through the 
ear and reaches to the engine ? 

Yes, the best illustrations are usually the homeliest ones. 
Will the boys understand what you mean when you tell 
them that some lives are like the fruit-baskets in the window, 
with the best fruit on top? 

Does the keeping of one’s glasses clean suggest anything 
about keeping our hearts in a condition plainly to see the 
right and wrong? 

Snow fences are built before the snow comes, and fire- 
escapes before the fire breaks out. Is there an illustration 
in this? 

The sign so often seen upon the road—“Krrp To THE 
Rieur’’—this has a suggestion. 

There are two kinds of illustrations to which we would 
like to call attention. In one, a plain statement is made 
beforehand of the thing you are trying to illustrate. For 
example, you wish to illustrate why it is that some people 
love God’s Book and other people do not care for it. This 
illustration came to me some time ago, from whom I do 
not recall but I think from C. D. Meigs. A young lady 
was presented with a book by an older lady friend. She 
was very appreciative and showed the book to her mother. 
That night she undertook to read it, but found it quite 
uninteresting and laid it down. Some time after that she 
saw this lady on the street and was quite disturbed lest she 
should be asked how she liked the book, but she was spared 
from that embarrassment. Upon coming home, she told 
the incident to her mother, and said she surely must read 
that book, lest she be embarrassed some time in the future. 


THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION 113 


She tried to read it but was not at all interested and gave 
it up. Later, she became interested in a young man, as has 
often happened in the past and, after the interesting pre- 
liminaries, they were engaged to be married. One day, 
when clearing up her room, she picked up this particular 
book and discovered that the name of the author was the 
name of her lover, initials and all. In her excitement she 
almost dropped the book. On his next appearance at the 
house, which was presumably that same night, she asked 
him if he had written that book and he confessed that it 
was his own book. As the story goes, she sat up all night 
and read it, and wondered why she had ever seen a dry line 
in it! Does that illustrate what we are seeking to illustrate ? 
Isn’t the Bible always an interesting Book when we are in 
love with the Author ? 

The second type of illustration is one that withholds the 
purpose of the illustration until after it is fully given, and 
then the purpose is flashed out in such a way as to make 
the truth plain, and the illustration makes it stick. 

Well do I recall hearing dear old Dr. F. B. Meyer of 
London, years and years ago, addressing a company of men 
in Portland, Oregon. He told this story: He was standing 
on the rear platform of a tram-car (“street-car,”’ we would 
call it) in London, and he saw a man riding along on a 
bicycle. He was evidently a novice at bicycling, and the 
bicycle wabbled from side to side, and Dr. Meyer said he 
feared the man would run into the car and be hurt. First, 
the bicycle was over against the sidewalk, and then was 
close to the car. When the car would stop, the man would 
get ahead, and then when the car started, the man would 
be behind. Finally he saw the man evidently trying to 
reach the back platform of the car. In this he succeeded, 
and immediately when he took hold of the railing that 
bicycle straightened up. Then it seemed that the bicycle 
began to talk, and this was what it said, “I wasn’t made 
to go through the world wabbling from right to left, running 


114 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


into all sorts of danger. I was made to go straight ahead, 
in a clear course.” Dr. Meyer said that just then the car 
ran into a long tunnel, in which, for some reason or other, 
the lights had been extinguished, and they were in total 
darkness. Though he was standing on the back platform, 
he could not see whether or not the man on the bicycle was 
still holding to the car, but when they came out into the 
broad daylight, there was the man, safe and sound, and he 
had come straight along with the car, through that dark 
place. Then all at once Dr. Meyer said, “Just so it is when 
you really get hold of Christ. You quit your wabbling 
from right to left and learn to live the straight life, and 
when you go through the dark valley of the shadow of death, 
you are sure to come out into the light on the other side. 
It is our place to hold fast to Christ.” 

It may be wise to say that some illustrations are over- 
drawn. Indeed, it is quite possible to make an illustration 
so strong that the point to be illustrated is obscured. An 
amusing illustration of this kind is told of a man who 
went with his wife to a temperance lecture, where the 
stereopticon was being used. The lecturer threw a drop 
of water upon the screen, where it appeared magnified to 
twelve feet in diameter. Of course, it is well known that 
all pure water is full of animalcul, or microscopic animal 
life. These animalcule were magnified many hundreds of 
times, until some of them seemed a foot long almost, as 
they wriggled about. There were more of them than could 
be counted in that one drop of water. Consequently, it did 
not look very inviting for one to drink. 

Then the lecturer said he would show the wonderful power 
of whiskey, and he dropped a drop of whiskey into the instru- 
ment, and the effect was that it immediately killed all of 
the animal life and they tumbled down together at the 
bottom of the picture in a little black spot hardly discerni- 
ble, and the drop of water now looked bright and clear. 
We are told that the woman leaned over to her husband and 


THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION 115 


said to him, “John, I’ll never drink water again without 
putting whiskey into it.” Evidently the illustration was 
overdrawn ! 

There is also power in an illustration that appeals to 
curiosity. Nothing I know of will catch and hold the 
attention of a restless audience like appealing to their curi- 
osity. We find this very often in Christ’s talks to the people. 
They did not know, at first, what He was driving at and 
were curious to listen to His story, but before He got 
through they discovered what He was talking about, and 
oftentimes greatly to their own discomfiture. 

What is the best form of an illustration? Evidently, it 
is by comparison. The thing to be taught is likened to 
something pupils know about already, and this makes the 
teaching clear. In other words, the word “L-I-K-K” is the 
guide to good illustrations. If we say a thing is round, 
that conveys little idea to a scholar in the class, for it may 
be round like a tree or round like an apple or round like 
a hoop, but if we say a thing is round like an apple, the 
scholar understands immediately what is meant. 

This was the form of illustration Christ used most of all. 
He was teaching men about the Kingdom of Heaven. They 
did not know anything about it, but He likened it to things 
they did know about, for example: 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net let down; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a sower who went out to 
sow his seed; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven which a woman 
hid in meal; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man taking a journey; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard-seed; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good 
seed in his field; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like the king’s marriage-feast ; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like the laborers that were 
hired at different hours; 


116 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


The Kingdom of Heaven is like the lost piece of silver; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hid in a field; 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like the pearl of great price, 
CLG, ;) CTC. 

In the matter of illustrations, objects have a large place. 
This method is scientific, for the reason that we learn more 
through what we see than through any other channel to the 
brain. It is said that a child learns more in the first seven 
years of its life than it learns in all the rest of its life. 
I do not know that this can be established. Many educators 
say that eighty-five per cent. of our knowledge comes through 
the eye. Certainly, the method is not only scientific but it 
is effectual. We learn most and best and quickest in that 
way. 

We learn the relation of things to things. For example, 
we never read in a book that a tree stands still and a horse 
walks. It is that kind of knowledge that comes to the child 
before seven years of age. 

The Bible is full of object teaching :—the brazen serpent, 
the Passover, manna. I have counted no less than one 
hundred objects in the Bible that are used by way of illus- 
tration. Almost every part of the human body is referred 
to; dozens of animals, as, the camel, the calf, the bee, conies, 
the birds, etc.; indeed, there is almost no end. 

Object teaching is approved in secular schools and is 
also indispensable in the Sunday School. Here is the place 
for maps, charts, globes, and especially for blackboards, for 
they are exceedingly practical. There is no end to the value 
and use of a blackboard; or, if in a class, a pad of paper 
with a soft pencil would answer the same purpose. Some- 
body has said that all that is necessary is to mix brains 
with the chalk, and this is true. A lecturer with a black- 
board and a piece of chalk in his hand can hold an ordinary 
audience almost indefinitely, whether he makes a mark on 
the board or not, if he makes a motion every once in a while 
as if he were going to. 


THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION 117 


The beauty of illustrating through objects is apparent 
when we remember how very easily it is done and at what 
little expense. An apple with a rotten spot in it shown 
to the children—will they understand? The influence of 
bad companions illustrated by taking a charred stick and 
asking the scholar to take hold of it—the hand all black, 
as a result, teaches the story. One candle used to light 
other candles; a nail driven in a post and drawn again, 
leaving the hole; a common, fine thread wrapped about a 
boy’s arms, easily broken at first but if wrapped often 
enough binding him tight—thus it is with bad habits. The 
lily bulb and the beautiful flower, side by side, illustrating 
death and the resurrection—there is literally no end to 
objects that may be used as illustrations in the class, and 
no kind of teaching lends itself in better fashion to illus- 
tration than teaching God’s Word in the Sunday School. 

People do not carry flashlights for the sake of carrying 
flashlights. They are carried for the purpose of illuminating 
dark places and making the pathway clear. In like manner, 
an illustration, if it is to be effective, should be chosen and 
given in such a manner as to illuminate the lesson being 
taught and not leave the illustration itself as the central 
thing in mind. An illustration that fixes itself in the mind 
so strongly that the pupils remember the illustration and 
not the truth illustrated has been made too vivid or forceful. 

I can illustrate this perhaps by stating that a pair of 
glasses are the best illustration of an illustration of which 
I know. Nobody buys the glasses to look at. People buy 
them to look through. By means of the glasses, the lines 
in the book appear much plainer than. they would otherwise. 
Really, they are no larger, nor bolder, on the page itself, 
but they appear so because of the use of the glasses. In 
other words, the thing you want to see is magnified and 
you forget the glasses that were used to do it. This brings 
out the thing we are seeking, namely, that an illustration 
should be looked through and not looked at. 


x 
THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS 


A good questioner is invariably a good teacher. Lord 
Bacon says, “A shrewd question is the half of knowledge.” 
It is our purpose in this chapter to emphasize the impor- 
tance of proper questions. The question-book is a scepter 
of power in the teacher’s hands. 

Good questions always imply thorough preparation. The 
teachers who are poorly prepared are those who want to 
talk continually. Thorough preparation makes the asking 
of questions comparatively easy. One’s preparation is de- 
termined by the quality of the questions he asks. Questions 
should be clear and not admit of more than one answer. 
The best question that can be framed is not one that brings 
an answer to itself but one which provokes a question on 
the part of the pupil. This indicates an inquiring mind, 
which is the only kind of mind susceptible for receiving the 
truth. 

Never tell a scholar what you can get the scholar to tell 
you by questioning. This is an old adage among teachers, 
and has not lost its worth by age. Questions call back from 
the scholar the truth that has been taught. The Jesuits who, 
as.a rule, were adepts at teaching, had a saying that “Repe- 
tition is the mother of learning.” 

Children are living question-marks. Listen to them in 
the cars or on the street. Their questions come thick and 
fast, and usually in this order: The youngest children are 
asking, “What?” When a little older, they ask, “How?” 
When older still, they want to know, “Why?’ Questions 
on the part of children are Nature’s methods of acquiring 


knowledge, and it is perfectly natural for children to ask 
118 


THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS 119 


questions. They indicate that the mind is reaching out for 
the bread that satisfies. 


I. SOME SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THE ASKING OF 
QUESTIONS 


1. Prepare Your Questions in Advance 


Questions should be short and clear. It is better to write 
them out and to keep your scholars in mind as the questions 
are prepared. 


9. Arrange the Questions in Proper Order 


Begin with simple questions; with questions the scholars 
can surely answer. This creates confidence. Literally, a 
question is seeking after something. 


8. Always Question the Whole Class, and Not an Indwidual, 
At Least Not Until After the Question Has Been 
Propounded to the Whole Class 


For example, instead of saying, “Charlie, what is the 
title of our lesson to-day?” say, ‘Boys, what is the title 
of our lesson to-day?’ without looking at any scholar in 
particular. Then ask Charlie to answer. Why do you ask 
Charlie? Because he is the least attentive boy in the class. 
Ask the second question in the same manner of the whole 
class. Then call on Charlie again to answer that question. 
Why call on Charlie twice? Because he is still the least 
attentive boy in the class. But what if he continues to be 
the least attentive boy in the class? Give him every ques- 
tion from start to finish. He will soon understand and 
come to himself when he realizes that inattention draws 
lightning in the form of a question, his failure to answer 
which puts him in bad with the rest of the class. 


120 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


4. Do Not Repeat a Question If You Are Sure It 
Was Heard 


The reason for this counsel is that the scholar who is to 
answer will often take this dodge to gain time and think. 
After a question has been asked and you are sure it has 
been heard, it is well enough to wait an instant, so that 
all can think of the answer, and during that time the scholars 
will have learned, by experience, that they do not know 
which one is to be called upon to answer that question. 


5. Avoid Leading Questions That Can Be Answered by 
“Yes” or “No” or a Nod of the Head 


A question that can be answered without thought is worse . 
than none. For example, suppose the teacher says, “Boys, 
our lesson to-day is about David, isn’t it?” Of course, they 
will say, “Yes, sir.” Similar questions will bring similar 
answers, until the scholars are quite ready to give the an- 
swer which they know the teacher expects, until they run 
up against a wall and make themselves ridiculous. For 
example, in my own school on one occasion, our pastor tried 
this experiment. He questioned the whole school quite 
rapidly in the following manner: ‘Scholars, do you think 
we ought to be regular in attendance?” “Yes, sir.” ‘Do 
you think we ought to be on time every Sunday?’ “Yes, 
sir.’ “Do you think we ought to study our lessons at 
home?” “Yes, sir.” ‘Do you think we ought to bring an 
offering every Sunday?” ‘Yes, sir.” “Do you think I 
ought to stop talking to you now?” “Yes, sir.” All the 
time they thought they were pleasing him! 


6. Do Not Ask Questions in Rotation or Always Begin 
At the Same Place in the Class 


When the scholars understand that you address the ques- 
tions to the pupils as they sit one after another in order, 


THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS 121 


those who have a little time before their turn comes will 
be engaging in other things that are not always conducive 
to good order. 


7. Question All the Members of the Class 


There are certain “smarties” that are anxious to show 
off by answering every question the teacher puts. This 
should not be permitted. There are those who can answer 
only the simplest questions. Give them simple questions, 
especially at. first, and give the hardest questions to the best 
scholars. It is altogether wrong to show favoritism in the 
asking of questions, wrong to those who answer and wrong 
to those who are relieved of the responsibility. In books 
on this subject, we are told about the “colorless” question. 
This is a question that stands upright and does not lean 
toward the answer. 


8. Give As Little Information As Possible in the Question 
and Require As Much Information As Possible 
in the Answer 


How well I remember Prof. H. M. Hamill, as he used 
to elaborate this thought. For example, in trying to bring 
out, by questioning, the truth contained in the following 
sentence: “Pilate was the Roman Governor of Judea,” the 
teacher might ask the question in this manner, ‘“‘Who was 
the Roman Governor of Judea?” In this case, the teacher 
gives three-fourths of the teaching of that sentence and asks 
the scholar to give but one-fourth. The proper method of 
asking the question would be, “Who was Pilate?’ The 
scholar may not give the complete answer but other questions 
will bring forth the answer. The scholar may say, “Pilate 
was a governor.” Then the teacher could say, “What kind 
of governor?’ This would bring out the fact that he was 
a Roman Governor; then a further question. if necessary, 
“Governor over what country?” Then we would have the 


122 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


whole truth brought out, by questions, that Pilate was the 
Roman Governor of Judea. 


II, DIFFERENT KINDS OF QUESTIONS 


There are three different kinds of questions: First, pre- 
liminary questions.. These open the way to the subject under 
discussion. Next come examinational questions. These 
seek to test the present knowledge of the pupils. Then 
finally come instructive questions. ‘These are the sort that 
seek to give instruction by bringing it out in the answers 
to the questions. Dr. A. F. Schauffler, of New York, on 
many occasions used the following illustration on this point: 

It was not in a Sunday School but in a day-school and 
the subject under discussion was the uses of oil. He did 
not tell the pupils any of the uses of oil but sought to 
bring out its uses by questioning. He asked if any of the 
scholars had been sick. Of course, many had. By chang- 
ing his question in various ways, as to what they took to 
make them well, after a while he would secure the answer, 
“Oil.” Then he would put on the blackboard, “We have 
learned one use of oil. What is that?’ and the scholars 
would say, ‘As medicine.” Then again he would ask whether 
any of them had a sewing-machine at home, or a lawn-mower. 
They would be quite willing to talk about their sewing- 
machine or lawn-mower. By deft questioning, he would find 
out what they did when it didn’t work right. They would 
use oil. ‘Then they had discovered a second use for oil, 
namely, oil is a lubricator. In like manner, by questioning, 
he would bring out the fact that oil, especially in the early 
days, was burned in lamps and thus was used for illumi- 
nating, and then that it was used in paint, or for manufac- 
turing purposes. 

It may be taken as a rule that the mind generally re- 
fuses to receive and certainly refuses to retain any isolated 
knowledge. Therefore, the questions should be related one 


THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS 123 


to another, and should begin with knowledge that is familiar 
to the pupil. One of the finest illustrations in this matter 
is taken from Socrates, who was the great catechist or ques- 
tioner. In Plato’s Dialogues, we read of one of Socrates’ 
disciples, named Meno, whom Socrates had been probing 
with questions until he felt uncomfortable because he could 
not answer them. Then the following dialogue takes place 
between Meno and Socrates: 


Meno: “Why, Socrates, you remind me of that broad 
seafish called the torpedo, which produces a numbness in 
the person who approaches and touches it. For, in truth, 
I seem benumbed both in mind and mouth, and I know 
not what to reply to you, and yet I have often spoken on 
this subject with great fluency and success.” 

In reply Socrates says little, but calls to him Meno’s 
attendant, a young slave-boy, and begins to question him. 

“My boy, do you know what figure this is?” (Drawing a 
square upon the ground with a stick.) 

“Oh, yes. It is a square.” 

‘What do you notice about these lines?” (Tracing them.) 

“That all four are equal.” 

“Could there be another space like this, only larger or 
less 2” 

“Certainly.” 

“Suppose this line (pointing to one of the sides) is two 
feet long, how many feet will there be in the whole?” 

“Twice two.” 

“How many is that?” 

“Four.” 

“Will it be possible to have another space twice this size ?” 

“Yes,” 

“How many square feet will it contain?” 

“Hight.” 

“Then how long will the side of such a space be?” 

“Tt is plain, Socrates, that it will be twice the length.” 

“You see, Meno, that I teach this boy nothing, I only 
question him. And now he thinks he knows the right answer 
to my question; but does he really know ?” 


124 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


“Certainly not,’ replied Meno. 

“Tet us return to him again. My boy, you say that from 
a line of four feet long there will be produced a space of 
eight square feet; is it so?” 

“Yes, Socrates, I think so.” 

“Let us try, then.” (He prolongs the line to double the 
length.) 

“Ts this the line you mean?’ 

“Oertainly.” (He completes the square.) 

“How large is become the whole space ?”’ 

“Why, it is four times as large.” 

“How many feet does it contain ?”’ 

“Sixteen.” 

“How many ought double the square to contain ?” 

“Hight.” 

After a few more questions, the lad suggests that the line 
should be three feet long; since four feet are too much. 

“Tf, then, it be three feet, we will add the half of the 
first line to it, shall we?” 

“Yes.” (He draws the whole square on a line of three 
feet.) 

“Now, if the first square we draw contained twice two 
feet, and the second four times four feet, how many does 
the last contain ?’’ 

“Three times three, Socrates.” 

“‘And how many ought it to contain ?” 

“Only eight, or one less than nine.” 

“Well, now, since this is not the line on which to draw 
the square we wanted, tell me how long it should be.” 

“Indeed, sir, I do not know.” 

“‘Now observe, Meno, what has happened to this boy; you 
see he did not know at first, neither does he yet know. But 
he then answered boldly, because he fancied he knew, now 
he is quite at a loss; and though he is still as ignorant as 
before, he does not think he knows.” 

Meno replies, “What you say is quite true, Socrates.” 

“Is he not, then, in a better state now in respect to the 
matter of which he was ignorant ?’ 

“Most assuredly he is.” 


THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS 125 


“Tn causing him to be thus at a loss, and in benumbing 
him like a torpedo, have we done him any harm?” 

“None, certainly.” 

“We have at least made some progress towards finding 
out his true position. For now, knowing nothing, he is 
more likely to inquire and search for himself.” 


III THE QUESTIONS OF JESUS 


A study of Christ’s questions will help us very much. 
We notice that they had three characteristics. First, they 
were original. They came out of His life. They reflected 
Himself. They were not formal. 

In the second place, they were practical. They brought 
men face to face with the truth. They made men think 
in terms of everyday life. They were thoroughly adapted 
to those to whom He was speaking. For example, to the 
crowd He said, “What shall a man be profited if he shall 
gain the whole world and forfeit his life?’ To silence the 
Pharisees, He asked, “The baptism of John, whence was 
it?’ and the Pharisees were completely frustrated by his 
question. ‘To test His own Disciples, He asked, “But whom 
say ye that I am?” Thus, by questions, He revealed His 
listeners to themselves. 

In the third place, Christ’s questions were personal. They 
got under the ribs and into the heart. They cut like a knife. 
To the lawyer who questioned Him, tempting Him, He 
replied with another question, namely, ‘What is written 
in the law? How readest thou?” ‘This put the lawyer in 
the position of self-defense. In answering the Sadducees 
who had propounded to Him the question, ‘“Whose wife 
shall she be?” He replied that in heaven they are not given 
in marriage. In answering them because of their unbelief 
in the Resurrection, He said, “God is not the God of the 
dead but of the living.” 

We shall learn very much by studying the questions of 
Jesus and the answers that He gave to the questions pro- 


126 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


pounded to Him. Furthermore, we should study our own 
questions and criticize our own methods. ‘Without criti- 
cism, bad methods become permanent.” Christ was the 
ideal questioner, and points the way to ideal answers. 

In closing, we might say that questions unanswered are 
not easily dismissed from the mind, and thus it is very 
desirable occasionally to send the scholars away with a ques- 
tion in their minds that they cannot answer. Suppose, with 
a class of bright young boys or girls, the teacher should 
dismiss the class with these three questions for them to think 
about during the week: 

“Where did I come from ?” 

“Why am I here?” 

“Where am I going?” 

Surely such questions as these would come to mind many 
times during the week before that class met again. 

Good questions make good teaching. 


XT 


‘A NEW VOCATION-—DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION IN THE LOCAL CHURCH 


All hail to the Grand Army of the Kingdom! 

This “Grand Army” is composed of the million and three- 
quarters or more of Sunday School officers and teachers 
of North America. It is made up of men and women and 
young people of varying ages, qualifications, ability, train- 
ing, and fitness. Many of them fall far below the recog- 
nized standards of efficiency, and some of them realize it. 
Nevertheless, we have only words of highest commendation 
for this “Grand Army” of volunteer workers in the Church. 
It is quite the fad with some Sunday School specialists to 
“knock” the teachers and the teaching in our Sunday Schools. 
The writer does not desire to be classified among the 
“knockers.”” While we realize the limitations, lack of prep- 
aration, lack of consecration, on the part of many of the 
Sunday School workers of America, the fact nevertheless 
remains (in our humble judgment) that the Church of God 
cannot produce another million and three-quarters of workers 
who are as faithful, efficient, and devoted as this great army 
of Sunday School teachers and officers. You cannot get 
people up by knocking them down. The apple tree which 
is clubbed the most usually is not the one that bears the best 
apples. 

There are a number of would-be leaders in the field of 
religious education who are continually complaining of the 
poor teaching that is being done in our Sunday Schools, 
while they themselves do not even attend the school at all, 


much less undertake to teach classes or to direct and improve 
127 


128 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


the work of religious education in their own Churches. 
Again, I say, “All hail!” to the Grand Army of the King- 
dom. 


PRESENT CONDITIONS 


Notwithstanding what we have said above, the fact re- 
mains that right here, in this matter of religious education, 
is the weakest spot in the Sunday School work of the world, 
and for the following reasons: 

1. The Church, as such, has not yet recognized the 
strategic place occupied by the Sunday School, as is indi- 
cated by the fact that approximately only one Church mem- 
ber in four is even a member of the Sunday School in any 
capacity, and also that of every dollar contributed by Church 
members for the general support of the Church work, only 
about two cents is devoted to the Sunday School, according 
to the Interchurch surveys. 

2. As a result, the Sunday School is often treated as a 
side issue, and, in some places, kicked about like a football, 
with inadequate equipment and such fragments of time as 
are not needed for the other features of the Church work, 
and often obliged to provide for its own needs. 

3. The importance of religious education has not gripped 
the Church in a vital way as a necessary remedy for the 
laxness of family religion and home training. The Church 
has not yet fully realized that a Christian citizenship is the 
only thing that can save this world from ruin, and that it 
cannot escape responsibility in this matter. 

4, Comparatively few of the Churches are taking seri- 
ously the matter of leadership-training, so that the great bulk 
of our Sunday School teachers are still lacking in specific 
preparation for their tasks, although many of them are fine 
teachers, and the vast majority are earnest, devoted, con- 
secrated souls. 

5. In short, the Church is not fully awake to the fact 


A NEW VOCATION 129 


that its very life depends upon the religious education and 
training of the children and young people, and that without 
the Sunday School or something else to take its place, the 
Church itself cannot permanently survive. 


THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY 


However, a new day is dawning for which we should re- 
joice. The Church is beginning to see the light. Many 
of the leaders are recognizing the importance of religious 
education as the hope of the Church, and are governing 
themselves accordingly. The evidences of this are numer- 
ous and compelling; for example: 

1. New Sunday School buildings are more and more 
coming to be constructed from the inside out, and not from 
the outside in; that is to say, they are being built for effi- 
ciency and for the convenience of those who are to occupy 
them, and not simply to attract the admiration of the 
passers-by on the street, nor to display beautiful stained- 
glass windows. The Sunday School is coming to be recog- 
nized as a school, which must be properly housed and 
equipped for that purpose. 

2. More books and periodicals on religious education and 
related subjects are being written by our forward-looking 
men and women, and published by leading organizations— 
denominational and interdenominational—than ever before. 
These probably exceed in number, at present, those in any 
other department of Church work. 

3. Colleges and seminaries are putting in departments 
of religious education for the training of leaders, and they 
are coming to be among the most popular departments of 
their work, and are attracting, in large numbers, men and 
women of high devotion and keen minds. Likewise, inde- 
pendent schools for this specific purpose are growing in 
numbers and in membership. 

4, Summer training schools and training camps—denom- 


180 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


inational and interdenominational—are springing up every- 
where in answer to the demand for a trained leadership in 
Church and Sunday School work, and, for the most part, 
with capacity attendance. 

5. Teacher training in the local Churches and through 
community training schools is taking on new life, and the 
standard teacher-training courses recently adopted are now 
up to very high standards of educational efficiency. 

6. Week-day Schools of Religion, in numbers and enroll- 
ment, constitute what might almost be called the modern 
miracle in religious education. Our readers are familiar 
with notable examples scattered throughout the country. 
These week-day schools are not an accident; they constitute 
an attempt to meet the growing and imperative demand 
of our day. 

%. Daily Vacation Bible Schools are multiplying. What 
we have stated above, concerning Week-day Schools of Re- 
ligion, may be stated with equal emphasis concerning these 
Vacation Bible Schools. Many have an idea that the chil- 
dren prefer to use their entire vacation in idleness, but the 
fact remains that wherever these Vacation Bible Schools are 
properly conducted and efficiently managed the children are 
eager to attend, and the results are beyond computation. 


TRAINED LEADERS A NECESSITY 


Leaders especially trained for their task are as important 
in religious work as in business or the professions. Indeed, 
more so. Note how rapidly the various experts are coming 
along in the lines of wireless telegraphy, the radio, ete., and 
also the growing demand for directors of religious education 
in the local church. Here and there, for the past twenty- 
five years, individual churches with a vision have been seek- 
ing for directors of religious education. Many have em- 
ployed such leaders, or supposed leaders, and have been 
obliged to let them go because of their inadequate training 


A NEW VOCATION 131 


and their unfitness for the work, although there are many 
notable examples of fine efficiency. 

Those in charge of colleges and the various types of train- 
ing schools mentioned above have the one story to tell: 
namely, that they are wholly unable to supply first-class 
leaders as rapidly as they are being called for. I have no 
hesitancy whatever in stating, as my firm belief, that within 
ten years the demand for thoroughly high-grade and well- 
trained directors of religious education in local churches 
will exceed the supply tenfold, unless more of our fine young 
people get the vision of this opportunity and challenge for 
Christian service. Indeed, it is now upon us. There will 
still be a great demand for directors of religious education in 
churches that cannot afford to employ them on living sal- 
aries, and many will qualify themselves to take these places, 
but this really becomes an avocation, instead of a vocation. 
There are many who are not obliged to work for a salary, or 
a full salary, who will see the opportunity and fit them- 
selves for the position of director of religious education in 
the local church, as an avocation, as many Sunday School 
teachers and officers are doing now. 

To my mind, the position of director of religious educa- 
tion offers the finest opportunity and challenge to multitudes 
of our splendid young men and young women, and I cannot 
express too strongly my conviction that we are facing here 
a vast and almost unoccupied field that is white unto the 
harvest. 


A UNIFIED PROGRAM OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 


All too long the Sunday School and the Church have been 
considered apart, and not together. The Church is a unit, 
and the program of the Church’s activity should be a unified 
program. Various features of this program will deal with 
various subjects, just as the curriculum of a great institu- 
tion of learning treats of various subjects, and is, never-. 


132 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS © 


theless, a unified curriculum. The Sunday School is the 
Church engaged in one of its principal activities. The same 
can be said, in varying degree, of the young people’s so- 
ciety, the woman’s missionary band, the men’s club, ete. 

This new officer of whom we are speaking—the director 
of religious education—should occupy a relationship to the 
whole Church and all of its activities along educational 
lines. He should be under the direction of a competent 
committee which represents adequately all the various fea- 
tures of the Church, including the Church as such, the 
Sunday School, and the young people’s society, ladies’ aid 
society, literary society, missionary society, men’s club, etc., 
ete. This committee should be well organized. Very often 
the minister will be the chairman of the committee (not 
necessarily so), and it will have a recording secretary. The 
executive secretary, however, of this committee should be 
the director of religious education. The Committee on 
Religious Education should have regular, frequent, and un- 
hurried meetings. Here is a wide and fruitful field, for 
the most part unoccupied at present. This Committee on 
Religious Education will address itself, among others, to the 
following tasks: 

1. The general reading of the members of the Church, 
by recommending specific books to be read at specific times 
by specific groups. 

2. The placing of the denominational Church paper in 
every home of the Church, and such other literature as may 
be agreed upon. 

3. Deciding upon the entire course of study for all of 
the departments and classes of the Sunday School. 

4, The selection of the study-book or books for the 
woman’s missionary society, men’s club, young people’s 
society, etc., etc. As stated, officially appointed representa- 
tives of all of these activities will be members of the General 
Committee on Religious Education, and will, without doubt, 
recommend the books that should be read or studied by their 


A NEW VOCATION | 133 


various groups. A general program, made up in this man- 
ner, printed in a comely document, setting forth the unified 
program of religious education of the entire Church, and 
freely distributed to all members and others interested, will 
dignify this feature of the work, and go far toward pro- 
ducing most excellent results. The chief task of the director 
of religious education is to see that this program, as thus 
outlined, ts carried out. 

Of course, it is recognized that the Sunday School would 
be the center of attack, so to speak, and this paid director 
would make many suggestions as to the organization of the 
school, looking toward efficiency. Nevertheless, he is not, 
necessarily, nor is it desirable that he should be, the super- 
intendent of the Sunday School. There are too many prob- 
lems of organization, promotion, discipline, etc., etc., con- 
nected with the office of superintendent; so many, in fact, 
that it would greatly interfere with the efficiency of the 
director of religious education. This officer should always 
be heard from in the Workers’ Council, and have ample 
opportunity there and elsewhere to explain and promote the 
work. He would be much interested in the maintenance of 
teacher-training classes in the local church, whether he 
teaches them or not, and would do everything in his power 
to line up the teachers and workers with other agencies, such 
as community training schools, ete., that would add to their 
efficiency. 


A REAL DANGER 


Many churches have employed a director of religious edu- 
cation, and the whole plan has broken down and been given 
up, and, in most cases, for the same reason; namely, that 
the director of religious education was made “a man of all 
work,” and obliged to do many things in addition to the 
work he was employed to do. It often happens that he is 
obliged to be assistant pastor, involving occasional preach- 


134 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


ing in the pulpit, and frequently officiating at funerals, 
visiting the sick, leading week-day meetings, ete., etc. The 
work of the director of religious education should not be 
combined with that of assistant pastor if it can be avoided. 


THE CALL 


It is for this paragraph that this chapter is written. The 
call into this great, new field of Christian activity should 
be recognized by young men and young women, just as the 
call is recognized to go into the ministry or missionary field. 
It is an attractive and fascinating line of work. Many 
consecrated young men and women desire to devote their 
lives to Christian work, and, for various reasons, do not 
feel that they should enter the ministry or go to a foreign 
mission field. To all such, the position of director of re- 
ligious education should hold a great attraction. Many 
others will look upon it as the best possible opening for 
their lives, and recognize it as equal to the ministry, foreign 
mission field, or any other distinctive Christian activity. 
Our counsel to all such is that they do not rush into the 
place without sufficient preparation. Time spent at the 
grindstone is never lost. The full course of religious edu- 
cation in the higher-grade institutions will require four 
years, and it is a great deal better to give this entire time 
than to plunge ahead without adequate preparation. Not 
to heed this counsel is to invite almost sure defeat. The 
salary should be adequate, and the better the preparation 
that is made in advance, the higher will the salary be. It 
may not be as high as that of the pastor, but it should not 
be far behind it, especially for a thoroughly qualified, high- 
grade official. Here is the open door for thousands of our 
young people, and we trust many will enter in. Those who 
are contemplating fitting themselves for this high office will 
do well to consult with their pastors, or the officials of their 
Churches, in order to learn where they can prepare them- 


A NEW VOCATION 135 


selves to the best advantage. It is well to send away and 
get the catalogues and printed matter of various institutions, 
and to do this as far in advance as possible, for many of 
these institutions are having capacity attendance now, and 
some of them, I understand, are turning away applicants 
for lack of room. 

In closing, it should be remembered that there is always 
room at the top in this or any other vocation or calling. 
It is the mediocre one who usually falls down, rarely one 
who is thoroughly prepared. 

Young people, this may be the challenge for which you 
are waiting. It may be the place where you can make the 
best investment of your life. Face the dawn, look to God 
for guidance, and, with courage and high faith, go forward! 
But first—get ready! 


XII 
THE WHY OF TEACHER-TRAINING 


“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman 
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word 
of truth.” 

The tasks of the world are done by the people who know 
how to do them. Knowing how does not come by chance. 
It takes study—much study and preparation. The Sunday 
School teacher has entered upon the greatest work in the 
world: teaching immortal souls, made in the image of God; 
using the Word of God as his text-book; in the greatest in- 
stitution in the world, His Church. 

The office of the teacher cannot be overestimated. Christ 
Himself was a teacher, and in His Great Commission, He 
sends His Church forth to teach everybody everywhere. 
Hence, we are all living under this command. The teach- 
ing of God’s Word to immortal souls is not a matter we 
can take up or lay down at will. It is God’s command, and 
if we have the ability to teach and the opportunity to teach, 
we cannot refuse to teach without first making our peace 
with Him. 

To-day we are considering the importance of preparing 
ourselves that we may teach with efficiency. The teacher- 
training class is the “West Point” of the Sunday School, 
and should be taken more seriously than it is, for teaching, 
as we have learned, is the finest of the fine arts. No public- 
school teacher is considered equipped for the task without 
special preparation. It should be so with Sunday School 
teachers, of whom there are approximately three times as 
many in the United States as there are day-school teachers. 


The purpose of all teaching is fourfold: 
136 


THE WHY OF TEACHER-TRAINING 1387 


1. Instruction 
“Ye shall know the truth.” 


2. Salvation 
“And the truth shall make you free.” 


3. Character-building 


“Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house.” 


4, Tramng 


“A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.” 

We must know. We are saved by a great knowledge. 
“This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only 
true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” We 
are told to serve the Lord with all our strength and heart 
and mind, but we oftentimes forget and neglect the mind. 
Some things must be in order that other things may be. 
Among the reasons for training in order that we may be 
efficient teachers are the following: 


I. THE FIRST WHY 


We must know why we teach. The only answer to this 
is found in God’s Word as recorded in the last verses of 
Matthew’s Gospel: “All power is given unto me in heaven 
and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bap- 
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world.” 

The clearest and most conclusive answer to the question 
as to why we teach at all is that it is God’s command. The 
little Church Christ established was commissioned with the 
great task of carrying the Gospel to every corner of the 


138 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


world, and the plan divinely laid down was to teach. The 
two words, “Go” and “Lo” are significant. It is our busi- 
ness to go. Christ has the power to save; we have not; 
we go and tell the good news. Christ has the power, and 
He saves, and He alone. 

A fanciful story—purely imaginary, of course—is effec- 
tively told by 8S. D. Gordon in one of his charming books. 
He tells of the return of Christ to His Heavenly Home, 
after His visit to the earth. Gabriel and He are walking 
down the streets of heaven one day, talking over what 
had happened down here. Gabriel asked how the message 
of His visit was to be carried to all the earth. Jesus replied 
that He had gathered together a small company of men 
and commissioned them to tell the good news everywhere. 
Gabriel seemed to have some doubts. He had been here to 
the earth himself, a number of times, and thought he knew 
the conditions. So he said to the Master, “What if they 
do not do it?” and the Saviour answered, “I have no other 
plan.” So far as we know, there is no other plan. It is 
teaching, whether done by word of mouth or by the printed 
page or by the living example. 


II. THE SECOND WHY 


We must know what we teach. God’s Word is our text- 
book, and how little we know about it. We cannot teach 
who Jesus is, without knowing who Jesus was. It would 
be unthinkable to permit a public-school teacher to teach 
arithmetic who did not understand and know arithmetic. 
It is paradoxical to say that we can know the Bible, for it 
has depths even yet unfathomed, and nobody thoroughly 
knows the Bible. Nevertheless it is possible for almost any 
one to acquire a working knowledge of our great text-book. 
God’s great plan for the salvation and redemption of the 
world runs through the entire Book, from start to finish. 

It is not the purpose of this address to refer to the details 


THE WHY OF TEACHER-TRAINING 139 


of Bible study. They are laid down in books that are 
neither expensive nor difficult, and every teacher who under- 
takes the responsibility of a class should prepare for the 
work as thoroughly as possible. This requires study of 
the Bible in a systematic way, and particularly study of the 
immediate lessons we are to teach. 

We are talking about teacher-training, and a teacher-train- 
ing class is the quickest, easiest, and surest way to arrive 
at this knowledge. 


III THE THIRD WHY 


We must know whom we teach. We are teaching immor- 
tal souls. They will live to tell the tale in another world. 
We must understand the processes of the mind—what at- 
tracts, what repels, the simple and yet delicate processes 
by which the mind operates to appropriate new truth. This 
is commonly called “psychology.” Somebody has said, 
facetiously, that psychology is putting what everybody knows 
into words nobody understands. Nevertheless, the dominant 
principles by which truth can be put into the mind are 
not difficult to discover. We should not be scared by that 
big word, “psychology.” 

I sometimes feel that the best psychologists in the world 
are known by the homely name of ‘‘Mother.” They know 
the peculiarities of their children and the processes of their 
mental development better than any one can tell them. The 
mother knows, without even the study of books, which of 
her children requires patience, which one guidance, which 
one warning, and which one now and then may need the 
“horticultural” treatment. I used to think my parents were 
inclined that way a little too much. 

There is no more delicate process in the world than teach- 
ing. There is a skill about it that is fascinating. The mind 
first must be made receptive for the truth, and then the truth 
laid down within its grasp, with nae presentation and illus- 
tration. 


140 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


IV. THE FOURTH WHY 


We must know how to teach. There are fixed laws for 
teaching. Cramming facts into a head is not teaching. 
While it is a mysterious process, it is not beyond our reach, 
but we must know how to teach. The world pays honor 
to the man or woman who knows how, not only to teach, 
but to do anything. The people who know how are always 
busy. Teaching power is not to be had in sealed cans, by 
the dozen, nor is it dispensed in tablet form. There is no 
royal road to teaching. 

First of all, we must teach what is really worth teaching, 
and in Sunday School work, only that is worth teaching 
which has a bearing on lives and can be assimilated. 

By reading the Gospels, we learn, from Jesus, not only 
what to teach, but how to teach. He was the Master Teacher. 

Genuine teaching quickens the mind and creates the de- 
sire for knowledge. The real teacher leads the scholars 
through the meadow, telling of its wonderful beauty, until 
they themselves ask if they cannot stop and gather some 
of the flowers by the way. Real teaching is leading the 
pupils by the bubbling brook until they themselves ask if 
they cannot stop and drink. Those teachers are not the 
best who communicate the largest number of facts to their 
scholars, but those who create a hunger on the part of the 
scholars to know. 

All teaching is interesting, and if it is not interesting, 
it is not real teaching. ‘This is certainly true of Bible 
teaching. The mind is not a coin to be stamped in a definite 
form; it is a mine where there lie the nuggets of rich gold, 
and teaching mines them out. 


V. THE FIFTH WHY 


We must know how to adapt ourselves to the conditions 
under which we work. Certainly, they are not usually ped- 


a i a 


THE WHY OF TEACHER-TRAINING 141 


agogical. In an ordinary Sunday School, there are more 
or less interruptions. There is lack of authority, and a 
very brief time in which to do our work. Only thirty min- 
utes on each Sunday, approximately, is set apart for the 
teaching period. This amounts to but twenty-six hours a 
year, provided that both scholar and teacher are there every 
Sunday. This is wholly inadequate. Roman Catholic chil- 
dren receive annually two hundred and twenty hours of 
religious teaching; and Jewish children three hundred and 
thirty-five. It is no wonder that the Catholics and Jews 
hold their children to their faiths. Not only this, but the 
school life is short. Probably not half of the children 
and young people in the Sunday School spend more than half 
their time there during the day-school ages. On this ac- 
count, the teacher must be exceedingly wise and exceedingly 
earnest. He must learn how to put himself into the lesson 
and teach not only by precept but by example. 

Now all of these conditions are adequately dealt with 
in a regular teacher-training course. The Standard Course 
now recognized by the International Council of Religious 
Education and the leading denominations consists of one 
hundred and twenty lessons, and covers approximately three 
years of time, forty lessons to each year. 


VI. THE SIXTH WHY 


We must know the “how” of teacher training. The only 
way to solve the teacher problem of any Church is to main- 
tain a teacher-training class or, in large schools, more than 
one such class, and carry them on regularly every year from 
at least October until May. 

All too often, when this class is organized, the doors are 
open for anybody who desires to take the course. This 
method is unwise and ineffective. The better way is for 
the Pastor and Superintendent to call together the teachers 
of the classes of young men and young women; then lay 


142 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


before them the importance of a trained leadership; and ask 
them to suggest the one or two or more young men or young 
women of their classes who, they think, have the right kind 
of ability to become teachers. ‘These names are passed on 
to the Superintendent or Pastor or the Director of Religious 
Education. The young people themselves know nothing 
about this selection as yet. Then the young people are 
notified that they are to meet the Pastor, or some one else 
commissioned to talk to them, and at that time the challenge 
is laid before them. They are notified that they have been 
officially nominated for the highest office in any Church, 
barring that of the Pastor, and then they are asked whether 
they are willing to take the matter seriously enough to fit 
themselves to become teachers. If they are, they are formed 
into a class, and their names are given to the Church as 
those who have been officially set apart for this purpose. 
The very finest teacher available will be chosen to lead 
them. The entire group will be together as one class, and 
take up the work of the year, which consists of forty lessons 
—ten, each, on the Bible, psychology, pedagogy, and the 
study of the Sunday School as an institution. They should 
meet in a room by themselves and at the Sunday School 
hour. By selecting this hour, you have solved the trouble- 
some question as to time and place. It is exceedingly diffi- 
cult to maintain a teacher-training class on a week-day night, 
for some of the members will surely have engagements that 
will interfere with the work; not so on Sunday. 

The class, having started its work, should be guarded and 
never allowed to be interrupted. It is absolutely wrong 
to take supply teachers from the training class. Such pro- 
cedure will chill the ardor of the students, and the elass 
eventually becomes ineffective. Better let a class sit with- 
out a teacher or send them home, on a given Sunday, than to 
break up your teacher-training class in this way. 

At the end of the first year, honor those who have com- 
pleted the work satisfactorily. 


THE WHY OF TEACHER-TRAINING 143 


The second year is very much like the first year, only 
more advanced, the class remaining all together. The third 
year is given up largely to individual study and specializa- 
tion. ‘Those who are planning to teach little children will 
have one book of study; those who are planning to teach 
adults, still another; and the same is true of those who will 
work with young people and others in administrative offices. 
In other words, the third year is a year of specialization. 

At the end of the course, a graduating exercise should be 
held that will do honor to those who have done this arduous 
piece of work. It should be held in the Church, at a regular 
Church session, perhaps Sunday night, with suitable ad- 
dresses and recognition, together with the presentation of 
diplomas. 

This seems like a slow process to secure efficient teachers 
in the Sunday School, but it is the swiftest process known. 
The superintendent of a very large Sunday School number- 
ing over twenty-five hundred has told me repeatedly that 
they never had a class for which they did not have a teacher 
who had been trained in one of their own training classes, 
and there were usually graduates of this class ready to take 
up new classes that were formed. 

In closing, may I say what I said in the beginning, 
that the teacher-training class is the “West Point?’ in the 
Sunday School, and without it the standard of teaching will 
not be what it should be. A teacher-training class need not 
be large. A half-dozen is a good class; twenty will be 
better, but do not give up because the class is not large. 

When we consider the conditions under which Sunday 
School teaching must be done, it becomes more and more 
apparent that the teachers must be trained in order to be 
masters of the situation. Conducting a teacher-training 
class requires persistence, determination, and ability, but 
it is the royal road to success in Sunday School work. 


2 


THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY 
TRAINING 


“Tt is the whole business of the Church, and it is the 
business of the whole Church to carry the whole Gospel 
to the whole world as speedily as possible.” 

“The Church is under marching orders, and should have 


no mind of its own, except as that mind is really the mind © 


of Christ.” 

“The Church is out for business, or it has no business 
to be out.” 

Christ said, “Go—teach.” Go everywhere; teach every- 
body. He said it to the Church—to the whole Church—to 
the Church then and the Church now—to you and to me. 
We must do it, or be disobedient to our Lord. The Church 
needs a vision of the world through the eyes of Jesus Christ. 

What do our schools know about missions, as a rule? In 
the average school, missions mean money, and a missionary 
is a beggar. A missionary is presented to the school, and 
he will tell some stories that will make them laugh or cry 
or both, and then ask them for some money. This is not 
Christ’s estimate of missions. The Church has been very 
remiss in this matter, and is just beginning to learn the 
value of missions among the children in non-Christian 
lands. 

Bishop Taylor, on his return at the close of an eventful 
and successful life as a missionary, said that if he had to 
give his life over again, he would preach almost wholly to 
the children. Dr. James L. Phillips, the Sunday School 


missionary to India, used to say, over and over again, that 
144 





SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY TRAINING 145 


the Sunday School was the underminer of paganism. He 
meant that the teaching of God’s Word to the children is 
the best and most effective type of missionary work. 

But the results in the field are not those that concern 
us most just now. We are all familiar with a statement 
that has been ofttimes quoted, when a man who did not 
believe in foreign missions asked a minister if he didn’t 
think God could save the people in foreign fields without 
our troubling about them. The minister’s answer was, ‘It 
is not a question as to whether they can be saved or not 
in that way. The real question is, ‘Can the Church at home 
be saved if we do not obey God’s explicit command to go 
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature?’ ” 

Dr. Dawson, in his remarkable book, entitled, “A 
Propet in Basyton,” says, “Churches, like armies, live 
by conquest. When conquest ceases, mutiny begins.” This 
is true, indeed. Horses cannot kick and pull at the same 
time; neither can Churches. When Churches are in a quar- 
rel, they are not saving souls. When they are doing their 
legitimate work and are interested in soul-saving and the 
propagation of the Gospel, they are not quarreling. 

The Church has been slow to learn the real value of mis- 
sions. The strongest testimonials for missions are from 
those who are the most familiar with missions, especially 
those who have themselves been missionaries: 


“The world has many religions; it has but one Gospel.” 
—George Owen. 

“All the world is my parish.”—John Wesley. 
__ “T see no business in life but the work of Christ.”—Henry 

Martyn. 

“We can do it if we will.”"—The Men of the Haystack. 

“We can do it and we will.”—Samuel B. Capen. 

“The bigger the work, the greater the joy in doing it.”— 
Henry M. Stanley. 

“I am in the best of services for the best of Masters and 
upon the best terms.”—John Williams. 


146 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS © 


‘Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in de- 
spair.”—David Invingstone. 

“The greatest hindrances to the evangelization of the 
world are those within the Church.”—John hk. Mott. 

‘Prayer and pains, through faith in Jesus Christ, will 
do anything.” —John Eliot (on the last page of his Indian 
grammar). 

“What are Christians put into the world for except to do 
the impossible in the strength of God ?”—General S. C. Arm- 
strqng. 

“Christianity is a religion which expects you to Do 
things.”—Japanese Saying. 

“Let us advance upon our knees.”—Joseph Hardy Nee- 
sim. 

“Tell the king that I purchase the road to Uganda with 
my life.”—James Hannington. 

“T am not here on a furlough; I am here for orders.”— 
Hiram Bingham, Brooklyn, October, 1908. 

“The medical missionary is a missionary and a half.””— 
Robert Moffat. 

“Every church should support two pastors—one for the 
thousands at home, the other for the millions abroad.”— 
Jacob Chamberlain. 

“T will place no value on anything I have or may possess 
except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ.”—Jnving- 
stone’s resolution made in young manhood. 

“Win China to Christ and the most powerful stronghold 
of Satan upon earth will have fallen.”—Mr. Wong. 

“The word ‘discouragement’ is not to be found in the 
dictionary of the Kingdom of Heaven.”—Melinda Rankin. 

‘We cannot serve God and mammon; but we can serve 
God with mammon.”—Robert EH. Speer. 

“The prospects are as bright as the promises of God.”— 
Adoniram Judson. 

“Your love has a broken wing if it cannot fly across the 
sea.”—Maltbie D. Babcock. 

“The natural order is, first—Bible study, which reveals 
God’s purpose and man’s obligation; second—mission duty, 
which ilustrates God’s purpose and man’s obligation; third 


i 


SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY TRAINING 147 


—the study of systematic and proportionate giving which 
is the method of God’s purpose and man’s obligation.”— 
Franklin Goucher. 

“It is manly to love one’s country; it is godlike to love 
the world, ‘for God so loved the world that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in kim should not 
perish but have everlasting life.’ ”°—Franklin Goucher. 

“It is estimated that only 20 per cent. of the Sunday 
School scholars are brought into the Church, while in the 
Sunday School, and only 20 per cent. join the Church after 
leaving the Sunday School. That is, on the average, in every 
Sunday School class of five, one is converted while in the 
school, one after he leaves the school, and the other three go 
from the teacher, unsaved.”—Franklin. Goucher. 

“Of the children committed to Christian training in pagan 
lands, more than 96 per cent. of those in the orphanages and 
75 per cent. of those in the boarding schools become Chris- 
tians, while 90 per cent. of the inmates of the Protestant 
orphanages in this country are brought into the Church.”— 
Franklin Goucher. 


A chieftain in India sent word to a missionary board, 
as follows: “Send us more missionaries and less rum!” 

But how shall our Sunday Schools be taught in an inter- 
esting and compelling way about missions, so that they will 
really become intelligent on this subject and deeply inter- 
ested in what it stands for? It seems to me there are five 
steps, and they are as follows: 


I. THE SCHOOL SHOULD KNOW 


We have a duty here, because our scholars, as a rule, 
have far less systematic information about missions, their 
methods, and challenge, than they should have. We are 
never interested in things about which we do not know. 
“No information, no inspiration.” In order that the school 
may know, certain things are necessary, and we would like 
to suggest the following: 


148 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


A Missionary Department. Select an interested young 
man or woman to be the head of a missionary department. 
This department will be really a missionary committee com- 
posed of this chairman and persons selected to represent 
the various departments of the Sunday School. Most of 
them, of course, will be grown people, and none of them 
should be real small children. | 

This missionary superintendent and committee will make 
it their business to spread missionary information and en- 
thusiasm wherever they can. If possible, they should have 
a room set apart for their particular purpose. In this 
room would be missionary material, including a missionary 
library. There should be books for the teachers, as well as 
the scholars, and no books printed are more interesting or 
compelling than books on missionary themes. The following 
are given simply as samples: 


Tue Lirt or Joun G. Paton. 
Topsy-turvy LAnp. 

In tHe Tiger JUNGLE. 

CHILDREN IN Biur anp Wuat Tury Do. 
Oxp-TIME STUDENT VOLUNTEERS. 

CrcoLe oF CaTHay. 

Uaanpna’s Waitt Man or Work. 

New Lanterns in Oxup CuHInNa. 
Tuinxine Brack, etc., ete. 


Then there are missionary periodicals that could be pro- 
vided, and leaflets without number, missionary maps, charts, 
pictures, curios—all of these can easily be provided and at 
small expense. At given times, individual classes could be 
taken into this missionary room and shown the curios or 
given a lesson from the charts and maps. In many schools, 
those who manifest a special interest in missions are put 
into a missionary training class, and there are many books 
that can be used for this purpose, such as Trull’s books, 
missionary programs, ete., ete. 





SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY TRAINING 149 


Perhaps once a quarter there should be a Missionary 
Sunday, when this committee will have charge of a mission- 
ary program conducted in the various departments in such 
a way as not to interfere with the lesson study period. 


II THE SCHOOL WILL PRAY 


We never pray about things about which we do not know. 
The missionary knowledge will create an interest that will 
lead the school to pray along the line of its information. 
Knowledge of a given field makes a good track on which 
our prayers will run. Missionary prayers in a Sunday 
School should be specific. If a school is particularly inter- 
ested in Japan, the prayers should be about Japan. The 
same would be true of any other country. It is a rare thing 
for interest to be maintained in a given field without knowl- 
edge of that field in advance and without its being followed 
by gifts. Special mention of the missionary fields in which 
the school is interested should be made every Sunday, so 
that the scholars will be perfectly familiar with their par- 
ticular field and their part in helping it. 


Ill. THE SCHOOL WILL PAY 


Where the heart is, the money goes. The gifts likewise 
should be specific and usually through the regular channels 
of the Church. The paying should be done intelligently, 
systematically, and generously. Oftentimes the children 
give because it is a missionary day and they do not know 
what the money is for. This is all wrong, and this con- 
dition will not exist if the school has been properly in- 
structed. 

The writer knew of a school where, in the primary class, 
-a missionary offering was taken on the first Sunday of every 
month and on that day the scholars were given little picture- 
cards. When the class was asked one day what the money 


150 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


they were giving was used for one of the scholars replied, 
“To buy the cards we take home with us.” ‘hat was not 
true at all but that was the impression, because they had 
not been properly instructed. 

At this point we want to consider what it would mean 
to give proper instruction in Christian giving. ‘There is 
no appeal like the missionary appeal. The Sunday School 
enrollment of North America is twenty millions in round 
figures. If these twenty millions of people would add to 
their regular offering two cents per week for missions, in 
addition to what they are now giving, it would total more 
than $200,000 in a year. 

The best way to give is by the duplex envelope, asking 
a special pledge not only for the support of the local work 
at home but a separate pledge for missions, and keep an 
account with each contributor, no matter how old or how 
young. Dr. Franklin Goucher said, “Young people should 
receive as definite instruction in systematic and proportion- 
ate giving as they do in mathematics or in any other of the 
exact sciences, and they should have as definite exercise 
in giving as they do in praying, singing, or any other form 
of worship.” ‘The Church has not been trained to give as 
as it should have been trained, and our opportunity is in the 
Sunday School with the young people. Dr. Goucher has 
told us that 92 per cent. of the members of the Christian 
Churches in the United States were gathered into its fel- 
lowship before they were twenty-three years of age, and 
the great majority of them before they were eighteen. Less 
than 20 per cent. of those who pass twenty-three years of 
age without a personal identification with Christ ever become 
Church members. 

These three steps—KNOWING, PRAYING, PAYING—are ab- 
solutely vital to missionary instruction, and they work to- 
gether naturally. 


Dr. M. G. Brumbaugh, formerly Governor of Pennsyl- 


vania, tells the following incident after he had been in Porto 


_ eS i 


SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY TRAINING 151 


Rico for a time, representing our government in the reor- 
ganization of its postal system. He was telling the story 
of Porto Rico and its needs to a class of boys in a Sunday 
School. It seems that the class was organized, and after 
the address one of the boys arose and, addressing the chair- 
man, made the following significant speech: “I know more 
about Porto Rico than I ever knew before. I feel that 
we ought to help them. I move that we send them $10.00 
from our treasury.” This was a perfectly natural order. 

The “Misstonary Revirw or THE WoRLD” gives some 
startling facts about China and the Chinese. Every third 
person who lives and breathes upon the earth is a Chinese. 
Every month in China 1,000,000 souls pass into Eternity. 
Of the 2,033 walled cities of China 1,557 have no resident 
missionaries. Tens of thousands of towns and villages have 
no center of Gospel light. After a century of work, out 
of every 1,000 people 999 have no Bible, and this would 
be true even if every copy printed were still in use. Surely 
such facts ought to move the hardest heart to compassion. 
And compassion ought to move the most reluctant life to 
action. It is said of the Lord that when He saw a leper He 
had compassion upon him. And then the Scripture adds: 
“He put forth his hand and touched him.” 

The late Dr. J. H. Jowett said, “He that loseth his Bible 
—in China, Japan, India, etc., shall find it.” The purpose 
of our Christian religion, according to Max Mueller, is to 
erase the word “barbarism” from the dictionary of mankind 
and replace it with the word “brother.” 

With these three steps clearly in mind, we may now 
proceed to the fourth step in the development of our mis- 
sionary program. 


Iv. THE SCHOOL WILL GLOW 


That is, it will develop life and show an interest it has 
never shown before. Illustrations are very, very numerous 


152 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


along this line. The way to get life is to give life. All 
are familiar with the story of the man who was freezing 
to death in the Alps. He had lost his way. As he lay 
down in the snow to die he discovered a log ahead of him, 
covered with snow, and decided to creep to that log and lay 
his head upon it for a pillow as he died, for he felt sure 
that death was coming. As he laid his head upon the log 
it did not feel like a log, and, brushing away the snow, 
he found a man. He supposed he was frozen to death but, 
upon examination, found yet the signs of life and, with 
tremendous energy, he went to work to bring that man to 
life. He did everything he knew, rolling him over, rubbing, 
chafing, slapping, again rolling, etc., etc. For two hours 
he worked away at this man, and the man finally came back 
to life again, but the first man who had given up to die 
was tingling with life. The blood was rushing into his 
fingers and toes, and he had no thought of dying now. How 
did he get that life? By trying to put life into somebody 
else. | 

The Bible story of old Elijah is familiar to all—how he 
was discouraged and lay down to die. He saw a woman 
gathering some sticks and asked her to give him something 
to eat. She replied that she could not do it, for she was 
gathering some sticks with which to prepare the little oil 
and meal she had left in her house, and this her boy and 
she would eat and die, for they were at the end of their 
supplies; but the man of God said, ‘Make me a cake first.” 
This she did, and, as a result, the oil and the meal wasted 
not, and there was not only enough for the old servant of 
God but to sustain the life of herself and her family in- 
definitely! The Church that will ‘‘make a cake for God 
first,” and give a real, valid place to its missionary pro- 
gram will etow. It is a serious question whether a Church 
can justify itself in expending more money upon its own 
local support than it spends for the great world-wide mis- 
sionary work of the world. The day is coming when the 





SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY TRAINING 153 


Churches will recognize how remiss they have been in this 
matter. 


Vv. IT WILL GROW 


The Church or Sunday School that “makes a eake for 
God first” will not only glow but it will ezow. When it 
gets the real vision of God’s purpose in the world—that 
the world is to be saved through the preaching of the Gospel, 
the Church will not only have life, but it will have strength 
and numbers and wealth. The Church that starts on a 
giving contest with God will always come out second-best. 
The Church and Sunday School that do most for other people 
will accomplish the most for themselves. | 

In an African tribe where there were a number of Chris- 
tians, one of them was persecuted, and fled to the mission- 
ary’s home. He stayed with the missionary a while and 
then wanted to go back to his tribe. When the missionary 
remonstrated, the African told him the following legend: 


“The animals met in convention in the forest to have a 
discussion because there was no water. 

“A turtle said, ‘I know where the water is.’ 

“The lion, in answer, struck him with his paw and 
knocked him several feet. 

“The turtle slowly crawled back and said again, ‘I know 
where the water is.’ 

“The elephant stepped upon him and, the earth being 
very soft, he sank into the mud and was not much hurt. 

“Again the turtle asserted himself, and said, ‘I know 
where the water is.’ 

“The gazelle said, ‘Show me where it 1s.’ 

“Then they all followed the turtle and the gazelle and 
got the water for which they were perishing.”’ 


The native Christian said, “I am the turtle. I know 
where the Living Water is and want to show them the Way.” 


XIV 
METHODS OF SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM 


Sunday School evangelism, as we understand it and shall 
endeavor to speak of it in this chapter, consists in bringing 
the scholars to a recognition of their proper relationship to 
God and to a deliberate decision to follow and serve Him. 
There are many processes by which this can be brought 
about, and we wish to refer to a few of them here. 


I. THE REGULAR SERVICES 


The more I see of special methods in evangelism in the 
Sunday School and out of it, the more I believe in the 
regular services. There is nevertheless a place for the 
regular evangelistic campaigns, though they lend themselves 
to salvational evangelism more largely than the Sunday 
School does, while the Sunday School emphasizes educational 
evangelism. Both are essential and effective when properly 
carried on. 

The Sunday School is opposed to the hot-house method 
of evangelism and is not disposed to operate along that 
line. The highest type of Sunday School evangelism, to 
my mind, consists in spiritualizing and vitalizing the reg- 
ular sessions of the school. The whole atmosphere must 
be conducive to this end. The normal conditions are best, 
and if we can create an atmosphere in our Sunday Schools 
(which is altogether possible and widely practiced) that 
makes it easy for young people to recognize the claims of 
Christ and perfectly natural for them to step out into the 


Christian life—that is the ideal. 
154 


SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM 155 


We are told in the Book that God’s Word will not return 
unto Him void. Good teaching always brings results, 
whether we see them to-day or not. There never was a 
lesson taught in any Sunday School where the teacher sought 
simply to honor God and do His will, without any effort 
on his part to take credit to himself but wholly to honor 
Christ, but what the results followed. The same is true of 
a sermon. 

Whatever other plans may be adopted in a school, and 
there is room for other plans, nevertheless the very best 
results will be secured by creating within the school, Sunday 
after Sunday, throughout the entire year, a warm, devo- 
tional, cheerful, uplifting, spiritual atmosphere. It is com- 
paratively easy, in such an atmosphere, for young people to 
surrender their lives to God in open commitment. 

All other methods to which we shall refer are supple- 
mental to this. 


II. THE PASTOR'S CLASS 


Many pastors find this exceedingly helpful. Certain 
scholars, chosen by their teachers from various classes and, 
in some cases, classes as a whole, are formed into what 
is called a “Pastor’s Class.” These classes are generally 
formed in the Lenten season, with a view to bringing the 
scholars to decision and to Church membership at the Easter 
festival. 

These classes are all right, if properly carried on, and 
in the hands of a wise pastor they will no doubt be so. 
They are built upon the fact that the Pastor, by his train- 
ing, probably is more capable of explaining to the young 
people what the Christian life really is, what is involved 
in Church membership, etc., etc., than many of the teachers. 

This class is oftentimes held during the week, immedi- 
ately following the session of the day-school. We like this 
better than the Sunday plan, although in many schools these 


156 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


scholars are brought together into a Pastor’s Class while 
the rest of the school are at their lesson study. Unless entire 
classes are put into the Pastor’s Class, this has a tendency 
to weaken the class work, and we do not think it is as val- 
uable as the through-the-week meeting. However, Pastors’ 
Classes, when properly conducted, always produce good re- 
sults. Practically all of the leading denominations issue 
leaflets dealing with this subject, and they may be had at 
very slight cost. 


III. SPECIAL MEETINGS 


Comparatively few Christian leaders are capable of carry- 
ing on special mass meetings for children in a profitable 
manner. Children are like sheep; they will follow one 
another, and many times the results achieved in special 
meetings are superficial. Nevertheless, when wisely con- 
ducted, they have their value. 

They should be under the care of a very competent per- 
son; they should be wisely conducted, as informal as pos- 
sible. All high-pressure methods should be avoided. 

There are books on children’s meetings that are available 
and valuable. Our only counsel here is that children’s meet- 
ings should be conducted with great care and by those who 
understand children. 


IV. DECISION DAY 


Decision Day is sometimes objected to on the ground that 
every day should be decision day. While that is true, it is 
not a valid objection. Every day should be thanksgiving 
day, but that is not a reason why we should not have a 
special Thanksgiving Day like the one usually held on the 
last Thursday in November. 

Decision Day has been abused. Nevertheless it has great — 
value, and literally thousands and tens of thousands of boys 





SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM 157 


and girls have been led intelligently into the Christian life 
through Decision Day. 

Much care and wisdom are required in arranging for 
Decision Day, and many such a day is ruined and worse 
than ruined because it is not taken up in the right manner. 
Occasionally a superintendent will decide suddenly to have 
Decision Day in his school. This almost invariably fails 
to give satisfaction or accomplish the desired results. Sup- 
pose, for example, it is desired and decided to hold a De- 
cision Day on one of the Sundays late in February. In 
that event, the decision should be arrived at by the Pastor 
and Superintendent, then presented to the teachers, with a 
statement as to its importance, and their promise of codpera- 
tion secured. 

No publicity should be given to Decision Day in advance. 
All of the officers and teachers should know it, and the real 
object be laid heavily upon their hearts. There should be a 
meeting at least every week for six weeks prior to the De- 
cision Day, at which time the Pastor or some one else who 
is capable will give to the teachers and workers an earnest, 
heart-felt talk on the methods of securing decisions among 
the scholars. He will also give them help in the matter 
of meeting objections that will be raised, showing them 
how to use their Bibles in leading young people to reach the 
decision. 

A good deal of time at this meeting should be spent in 
prayer. Just the nature of the program and how to carry 
it out will be made plain to the workers. The highest mo- 
tives should be sought for in all of this work. No teacher 
will be very effective on Decision Day who has not given 
it a great deal of thought and prayer beforehand. 

One great blunder in Decision Day usually is in imagin- 
ing that it is a day on which decisions are to be made. This 
is true, in a sense, but it is far better for the teachers, 
before Decision Day, to visit their scholars and talk with 
them individually and secure their decisions and then make 


158 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Decision Day rather a witnessing day or the time when 
their pupils first signify publicly their acceptance of Jesus 
Christ as their Saviour. When the teachers thus begin to 
work with the scholars individually some weeks in advance, 
the weekly meeting of the workers will become more and 
more interesting as the day approaches. 

Tt will not be uncommon for the teachers to name indi- 
vidually pupils in their classes with whom they are having 
trouble, perhaps, in securing decisions. There will be much 
earnest prayer for these individual cases, with the repetition 
of names, etc. Here is a pastor’s opportunity to explain 
to these teachers how to proceed in difficult cases. If he 
is a wise pastor he will make it clear that there is no stereo- 
typed form to be followed; some will come one way, some 
another. He will perhaps cite to the teachers that Samuel 
was dedicated to God by his mother before he was born. 
Timothy was trained up by a godly mother and grandmother. 
Peter, in mature life, was brought to Christ by his brother. 
Cornelius came in answer to prayer; the jailer in a great 
fright; and Paul was stricken down in broad daylight while 
in his open, daring opposition to God. There is no uniform 
way. Many times the teachers, in winning their scholars, 
will find the only way they can make headway is by making 
a confession of their own laxness in this matter. 


Dr. George W. Bailey, whom some of our readers will — 


remember, and no one who knew him will recall him with- 
out affectionate regard, used to tell this story of what a 
confession of one’s own sin will do: 

A Christian man and a non-Christian man lived side by 
side. The Christian had never said a word to his neighbor 
about Christ. Now it so happened that the Christian man 
had a garden and the non-Christian man had chickens. This 
is a poor combination and one likely to bring trouble. 
The chickens got over the fence and destroyed much of the 
garden. The Christian man came home and, seeing the 
chickens in his yard, caught several of them and wrung their — 





SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM 159 


necks and threw their bodies over in the yard of the other 
man, using some very strong words and completely losing 
his temper. ‘The non-Christian man came out and simply 
said to the man, “And you are a Christian!” The arrow 
went home, and the Christian man laid his head upon the 
fence and wept like a child. Putting out his hand to his 
neighbor, he said, ‘““My neighbor, I have misrepresented the 
Christ I love, and I do not wonder that He does not appeal 
to you. I am all wrong in this matter, and I want to do 
the Christian part now, even if I have not done it in the 
past. J am the one to blame, not you. Here is my hand. 
Forgive me, and I will try to be a better man.” Then it 
was the turn of the other man to weep and to recall to the 
Christian that he had noticed many, many things in him 
that he would like to imitate, but that he had often won- 
dered that he had never spoken to him about Christ. The 
result was that the non-Christian man, then and there, was 
led into the Christian life. 

Dr. Bailey’s face would beam with joy and the tears 
would hang upon his eyelids as he told this story. It was 
the willingness, on the part of this Christian man, to con- 
fess his own sin that opened the way for his usefulness. It 
is often so. 

As indicated above, when Decision Day comes, the 
scholars should know nothing about it, as a rule. At least, 
I think it better so. The school would open perhaps in 
the ordinary way, or possibly better by the singing of one 
or two very choice hymns that would be appropriate to the 
occasion. Then maybe the superintendent would say some- 
thing like this: “We are approaching the Haster-time, a 
good time to think about Christ, whose Resurrection we are 
to celebrate. The Pastor and teachers and myself have been 
thinking much of you scholars and praying for you that 
you might publicly accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and 
enter into the Christian life.” Possibly with nothing more 


than this, the teachers may be given their classes without 


160 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


any formality, and then the teachers themselves proceed to 
talk to the scholars. 

This is a good way, but not the best. It is much easier 
to lead anybody to a decision when alone than with others. 
Particularly is this true with children and young people. 
It would be better, in my judgment, for the superintendent 
to say that the teachers have been thinking about this, too, 
and have been much interested, and he would like to know 
if there are those there who want to confess Christ. With- 
out a doubt, some of the older members will get up, who | 
have long lived the Christian life, and give ringing testi- 
monies. Then the encouragement should be for those who 
have never done this. before, and usually it will be found 
that many are ready to rise and declare their decision. 

If the teachers have previously done their work properly, 
and in every case where they could lead the scholars to © 
decide for Christ have made it plain to them that the next 
step is to make a public confession, it will not be difficult 
for these confessions to follow. 

I may be pardoned for giving a little personal experience. — 
Some years before Mrs. M. G. Kennedy, a wonderfully suc- 
cessful worker, died, I visited the school where she was 
working—Immanuel Baptist in Philadelphia. It happened 
to be Decision Day, and I had been asked to speak in the 
Young People’s and Intermediate Departments, with a spe- 


cial view to securing decisions. Her department was the — 


Intermediate, and there were something like one hundred 
and fifty children of Intermediate age there. I gave them — 
a plain, simple talk, without any urging whatever, but at — 
the close of my talk I said if there was any boy or girl there © 
who really felt ready to surrender to Jesus Christ and be- ~ 
gin the Christian life I would be glad to have them come — 
forward and shake hands with Mrs. Kennedy, their teacher. © 
Presently a boy started, then another, then another, and 
then some girls. Finally there were forty-six boys and girls ~ 





SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM 161 


on the front seat, all of whom had said they were ready to 
make that start. 

Just at this time the Superintendent entered the room 
from the back, and I spoke to him and said, “Here are some 
of your young people who are deciding to-day for Christ. 
Would you not like to say a word to welcome them into this 
beautiful service?’ With a beaming face he came forward 
and, as he faced the scholars and began to speak, all at once 
he stopped and, turning around to where I was, laid his 
head down upon the platform at my feet, for the platform 
was quite high, and wept like a child. He could not talk; 
his own little daughter was sitting on the front seat. 

Then the Pastor came in. I said to him the same thing 
I had said to the Superintendent and asked him to speak 
to them. He came forward likewise and began to talk, but 
he, too, broke down in tears and could not go on; his own 
two boys were on the front seat. 

Six weeks later I was sitting on the platform, with Mrs. 
Kennedy, in one of the Churches in Washington City. It 
was a Sunday School convention, and we were both to speak 
that night. JI asked her about those children. She said, 
“Oh, Mr. Lawrance, they have come along beautifully. All 
but four of them joined our Church last Sunday.” 


V. FORWARD STEP DAY 


In my judgment Forward Step Day is more effective and 
more easily observed than Decision Day. All of the pre- 
liminary work referred to, for officers and teachers, is like- 
wise recommended here. There should be the same sort of 
preparation. The only difference is that on Decision Day 
there is a division made in the class. Not all are asked 
to do anything. Those who are already members of the 
Church will sit still. They have no part, unless they are - 
interested enough to pray, but on Forward Step Day every- 


162 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


body in the building is expected to do something. At least 
they are asked to. 

Those who are Christians will be the most ready to take 
a Forward Step. It may be a decision to pray more, to 
study their Bibles more, to be more regular in attendance, 
to give more money for the support of the Gospel, to be 
more patient, and so on, but Pastor, Superintendent, every 
teacher, and every scholar, old and young, is given a plain 
slip of paper with a pencil. 

After presenting the matter carefully, prayerfully, each 
one is asked to write down his Forward Step. Of course 
it will be made plain that if they have not confessed Christ 
that’s the first step to be taken, and many such steps will 
be taken. As an illustration, I would like to refer to one 
service of this sort concerning which I know. There were 
seventy-five girls in one such meeting that said, as their 
Forward Step, though they were already Christians, that 
they would be willing to take a Sunday School class, and 
fourteen girls in that same meeting said they wanted to be 
foreign missionaries. 

Below, I am quoting some of the things that were written 
by the boys and men on their slips that day: 

“T want to be a foreign missionary.” 

“T want to become a minister.” 

“God help me to be a better teacher.” 

“T want to win souls for Jesus Christ.” 

“God help me to be more to my boy friends.” 

“T consecrate my life to Jesus Christ.” 

“T want to be of real value to my Church.” 

“T expect to become a musician and an evangelist.” 

“T want to do something at home.” 

“God help me to ae others.” 

“T want to live better.” 

“T expect to enter boys’ work.” 

These slips on which the Forward Steps are written should | 
be gathered but the decisions, with the names, should not 


SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM 163 


be made public. The teacher should know, in each class, 
likewise the Pastor and Superintendent. 


VI. PERSONAL WORK 


The teaching of a Sunday School class should be personal 
work, and it is personal work. We all recognize, however, 
that it is not easy or natural, especially for young people, 
to decide for Christ with others about. The teacher may 
be talking seriously to one boy in a class, and another boy 
will nudge him or laugh, and the boy being talked to fortifies 
himself and resists the appeal. Personal work in the class 
may be all right, but personal work in the home or alone 
is better. 

A letter is valuable, and oftentimes leads to conviction. 
Many times the opportunity for personal approach is lack- 
ing, but a letter is sure to be read. 

Of course, on the part of the teacher, there should be a 
burning love for God and love for souls, familiarity with 
God’s Word and how to use it, and more or less skill in 
dealing with souls. Great patience should be exercised and 
a faith that will not let go, likewise an appreciation of the 
responsibility, and a life that radiates the spirit of Jesus. 

The personal appeal and personal touch are invaluable. 

You cannot win souls by the phonograph method. We must 
share the travail of Christ or not enjoy His peace. We 
must appreciate the value of a soul and not try to make 
things too easy. We should pray for and, if opportunity 
offers, pray with our scholars. “Your best may not be the 
best but, if it is your best, it will be God-blessed and will 
bring a harvest.” 

“Individual Work for Individuals” is the best way, and 
the book of this title, by Dr. Trumbull, is very helpful. 
There are no masses in God’s sight. The multitude that 
no man can number is made up of single souls and, in the 
long run, it is the personal touch which wins. 





164 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Henry Drummond tells a beautiful story of two students 
who were classmates at Edinburgh. One was an earnest 
Christian, and he sought to lead his roommate into the 
Christian life, but had not succeeded. He was so earnest 
about the matter that he came back and took a special, extra 
year of study in order to be that friend’s roommate for 
one more year in order to try to win him to God. We knew 
of a superintendent who went into the Church, on a week- 
day, and knelt at every teacher’s chair and prayed. John R. 
Mott says that the family-crest has a lighted candle and the 
words, “I give light by being myself consumed.” There 
must be the living sacrifice, obeying the voice within, first 
the willing mind—this is essential. 

The teachers who exercise the most power are uncon- 
scious of their own power. No man at peace is conscious 
of his power. He feels the peace; others feel the power. 
Somebody has said, “I looked at Jesus and the dove of peace 
flew into my heart. I looked at the dove and it flew away.” 

The teacher who would win souls to Christ must keep 
his eyes fixed upon Jesus Christ and live in His presence. 


XV 


THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND ITS THROUGH- 
THE-WEEK ACTIVITIES 


The Sunday School session is not the Sunday School for 
the same reason that the preaching service is not the Church. 
The Sunday School, through its influence and activities, 
should last seven days in the week and fifty-two weeks in 
the year. As an institution it is continuous, and its life ‘ 
cannot be confined to Sunday. Any Sunday School that 
confines its activities to Sunday will amount to comparatively 
but little. 

More and more, it is coming to be recognized that the 
Sunday School is the Church’s best channel for social service 
and for most of its through-the-week activities. Social serv- 
ice is the gospel of humanity. During the “Men and Re- 
ligion Campaign,” some years ago, the teams of workers 
that were sent out had upon each one a specialist in the line 
of social service. It was discovered that there was not a 
single activity recommended by these social service men but 
what was found in active operation in some Sunday School. 

All of the legitimate through-the-week activities of the 
Sunday School are based upon the commands of Our Lord, 
as found throughout His teachings. They cover every kindly 
act to those we love and to strangers and our enemies as 
well. The giving of the cup of cold water and all it rep- 
resents is a part of the Church’s proper activities. 

Much present-day social service has the wrong emphasis. 
The beneficiary is all too ready to kiss the hand that holds 
the cup, but without a thought of the Christian impulse that 
prompted the act of mercy. In dealing with the fruits of 
Christian character we should not overlook the roots of 


166 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Christian character. Organized classes are not dying to-day 
for something to hear but for a proper challenging program 
of something to do. Through-the-week activities for Sunday 
School groups and others divide themselves into two classes: 


I. ACTIVITIES FOR PLEASURE 


These can hardly be called “social service,” and yet they 
are valuable, numerous, and varied. They include socials, 
picnics, excursions, birthday parties, fagot fires, rides, week- 
end camps, entertainments, literary clubs, lectures, story 
hours, declamation contests, practical talks, musical enter- 
tainments of all kinds, pageants, etc., ete., indeed, everything 
that is done for pleasure, and yet all of these have or may 
have likewise the educational appeal in greater or less degree. 
They all have a distinct value in building up the esprit de 
corps of the class or school and some of them should find 
a proper place in the Sunday School program. 

There is a danger that the entertainment idea will be al- 
lowed to run away with the practical side, and much care 
should be exercised at this point. Everything of this kind 
that is done should be made to fit into the life of the school 
or class. 


II. ACTIVITIES FOR PERSONAL HELPFULNESS 


This means helpfulness to those who engage in the exer- 
cises. It consists of teaching the members of the class useful 
and practical things, and this is very common, indeed. 
Many a class has been held together by their interest in 
learning things that are helpful to them. Of course there 
is pleasure in it, too. Some of these activities fit in better 
in poor localities or in mission fields or schools. They in- 
clude such things as sewing and teaching others to sew, 
dressmaking, millinery, housekeeping, care of children, care 
of plants, ete. All of these things have a place in mission 


THROUGH-THE-WEEK ACTIVITIES 167. 


schools and a place of great value. They include likewise 
carving, modeling, carpentering, painting, drawing, raflia 
work, hygiene, first aid to the injured, care of animals, 
vocational talks, etc., ete. 

Then there are others similar to these that require even 
more skill and training, such as wood-carving, china-paint- 
ing, brass and iron work, photography, stenciling, basketry, 
clay-modeling, drawn-work, fancy needlework of all kinds, 
gardening—including window gardening and contests in 
raising potted plants and flowers. Many schools give pack- 
ages of flower seeds to the pupils, with the understanding 
that the pots of blooming flowers are to be exhibited at the 
right time. 

Then we have also games of all kinds. For indoors we 
have dominoes, checkers, gymnastics, calisthenics, and espe- 
cially basketball. Many churches of to-day, when they are 
rebuilding or building new, provide a gymnasium for all 
these things, some of them even including a bowling-alley 
and swimming-pool, while game rooms and reading rooms 
are coming to be quite common. The outdoor sports are very 
popular, and they are all properly classified with through- 
the-week activities, hikes, especially such as Boy Scouts take, 
boys’ brigades, and all kinds of boys’ clubs, nutting parties, 
flower or specimen parties, fishing, hunting, swimming, row- 
ing, skating, kite-flying, bicycling, tennis, golf, hockey, 
cricket, and most popular of all, baseball. The largest base- 
ball league in America is the one connected with the Sunday 
School Association of Chicago. No person can belong to 
it who is not a regular, attending member of some Sunday 
School. League members are not permitted to play on Sun- 
day, or to use bad language on the playgrounds. 

All of the above activities and many, many more are now 
carried on by Sunday Schools in various localities, and 
properly so. They show to the world that the Sunday 
Schools and Churches are practical and that they deal in 
matters of everyday religion. 


168 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


We also find schools providing scholarships for young 
men and young women in various institutions of learning, 
carrying on free employment bureaus, conducting night 
classes in common-school branches, and employing good mu- 
sicians to teach music, vocal and instrumental. 

While all of the activities mentioned above are properly 
included in the Sunday School’s through-the-week program, 
they do not constitute social service in the best sense of that 
word. They do, however, go far in helping to develop the 
fourfold life, that is, developing the young people physically, 
socially, mentally, and spiritually. 

Social service, however, means helping people who really 
need help. It is always to be remembered that the best 
way to help anybody is to help that person to help himself. 
It is usually unwise to do for anybody, in the name of 
charity or religion, what he can, be taught to do for himself, 
except in emergencies. Feeding a hungry man at the back 
door may be all right in an emergency, but the practice is 
wrong and should be discouraged under ordinary circum- 
stances. ‘There are many ways of helping people and insti- 
tutions that are strictly within the line of social service, 
and they form a proper part of the program of an up-to-date 
Church and Sunday School. 

Helping the sick and needy always appeals to everybody. 
One Sunday School class made up entirely of “fire laddies” 
built an auditorium for a tuberculosis camp. Other schools 
and classes send flowers regularly to the sick; support dis- 
trict nurses; conduct fresh-air camps; pay for hospital op- 
erations; support families while the fathers are sick; pro- 
vide invalid chairs to lend; conduct campaigns of letter- 
writing to those who need encouragement; give automobile 
rides to shut-ins and convalescents; read to the sick, old, and 
blind; provide free medical attendance; carry on free dis- 
pensaries; furnish rooms in hospitals at home and abroad; 
give clothing and books; gather poor mothers together with 
their children on holidays for a dinner and musical enter- 


THROUGH-THE-WEEK ACTIVITIES 169 


tainment; furnish coal; lend blankets in the winter time; 
hold entertainments on lake boats as they dock, for the bene- 
fit of the sailors; support a home missionary preacher on 
the frontier; send clothing to frontier mission fields; help 
build or equip orphanages; send magazines to prisons and 
engine houses; systematically visit poor farms, homes for 
the friendless, and orphan asylums. One group of schools 
made improvements in a local jail; others helped the “down- 
and-outs.” Some large classes pay sick and accident benefits 
to their members. Others look after prisoners whose time 
is up, helping to secure employment for them. Not a few 
cooperate with the juvenile court. 

Some schools fit up free reading rooms; establish cir- 
culating libraries in rural communities; conduct temperance 
campaigns, etc. The organized men’s classes voted the saloon 
out of many localities before the Eighteenth Amendment 
was passed. Many Sunday Schools have helped build and 
equip Y.M.C.A. buildings and gymnasiums. The schools 
in numerous localities have joined in cultivating and beauti- 
fying the vacant lots of the town, keeping down the weeds, 
ete. 

Others employ story-tellers to tell stories to children in 
public places like parks, ete., at given hours on given days, 
while still others arrange for series of stereopticon enter- 
tainments in the open air. Not a few conduct Fourth of 
July picnics, with games, music, ete. 

Work with children is always interesting, and appeals to 
people. The world answers the call of the child. Sunday 
School boys and girls, in many places, are supported in blind 
asylums and other children’s institutions. Provision is made 
for deformed children. Crutches, braces, etc., are furnished. 
Dolls are dressed for crippled children. Penny entertain- 
ments are provided, likewise free kindergartens, properly 
located and efficiently manned. Public playgrounds are also 
provided. Scrapbooks, pasted with pictures for children 
in hospitals—this is a very fine piece of work for Junior 


170 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Departments to undertake. Children are often taken by 
carloads or truckloads for a day’s outing. 

Foreign missions form a fine opportunity for social service 
expression, such, for example, as supporting a child on a 
foreign missionary field, contributing regularly to the mis- 
sionary boards. The Sunday School is just coming to be 
recognized as the Church’s best channel for social service. 

There are, however, dangers to be avoided and lessons 
to be learned in carrying out this kind of program. Some 
of the dangers are: Pauperizing the poor, making the chil- 
dren snobbish because they help less fortunate people. This, 
however, can be avoided if care is taken. It is wrong to help 
anybody in a way that will encourage the same necessity 
to arise again. The very propriety and popularity of social 
service constitute a danger. 

There is likewise a danger to the Church itself, lest it 
imagine that there is a lot of credit coming to it because 
it does some good things. There are many good lessons, 
however, to be learned along the way. One is that the 
Church should always give a blessing to those it helps, as 
well as the material benefits provided. All that is done 
should be done in the Master’s name. Do not try to force 
religion down the throat of a hungry man just because you 
have a chance to feed him, but use every proper opportunity 
to make him understand that you are doing it in the name 
of Jesus Christ. 

The authority for social service, as outlined above, is 
found in the words that so well fitted our Master Himself, 
“He went about doing good.” This is social service—when 
the Church goes about doing good to everybody who needs 
to be helped. A Church or Sunday School that thus under- 
takes to help everybody it can help, in every way it can 
help them, at home and abroad, and does it in the right 
spirit, is imitating the Master and will have His blessing. 


XVI 
THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 


In reality there is no such: problem so far as Sunday 
School work is concerned. The problem lies deeper and, in 
the last analysis, is one of leadership. How often it happens 
that when a class of boys has driven teacher after teacher 
away, and rather taken a pride in it, the right teacher has 
finally come along and the problem disappeared. 

However, the question cannot be so lightly set aside with 
a single sentence, nor easily driven out of court. It is not 
our purpose to undertake to do so, but rather to face, as 
well as we may, the real problem of dealing with live, red- 
blooded boys in the Sunday School. Theories do not go 
far. Facts are what is needed. 

On one occasion a public speaker in a Sunday School 
convention told the admiring audience just what to do with 
boys. He outlined the procedure every step of the way, 
and the problems all appeared to vanish like the dew before 
the morning sun. Toward the close of his address, however, 
he was interrupted by a good woman in the audience who 
had seven boys of her own and, as is usual in that case, 
a lot of good sense. Interrupting the speaker, she asked, 
“Please may I ask the speaker a question?’ His consent 
being given, she proceeded: “I would like to know how many 
boys you have of your own,” and his reply was, “None, 
Madam; I’m a bachelor.” “Well,” said she, “I thought so. 
You talk just like one.” 

The following poem came into my hands recently, which 
tells the story better than I can do it: 

171 


172 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


“TRAINING THE OTHER WOMAN’S CHILD” 


“They all sat round in friendly chat, 
Discussing mostly this and that, 
And a hat. 


“Until a neighbor’s wayward lad 
Was seen to act in ways quite bad; 
Oh, ’twas sad! 


“One thought she knew what must be done, 
With every child beneath the sun— 
She had none. 


“And ere her yarn had been quite spun, 
Another’s theories were begun— 
She had one. 


“The third was not so sure she knew, 
But thus and so she thought she’d do— 
She had two. 


“The next one added, ‘Let me see; 
These things work out differently.’ 
She had three. 


“The fifth drew on her wisdom store ! 
And said, ‘I’d have to think it o’er.’ 
She had four. 


“And then one sighed, ‘I don’t contrive 
Fixed rules for boys, they’re too alive.’ 
She had five. 


J 
| 
. 
{ 
| 


“*T know it leaves one in a fix, 
This straightening of crooked sticks.’ 
She had six. 





THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 173 


“‘And one declared, ‘There’s no rule giv’n, 
But do your best and trust to heav’n!’ 
She had sey’n.” 
Axice CrowEtL HorrMan. 


It used to be considered that boys were more difficult to 
raise properly than girls, especially when they come to the 
early teen years. This statement was based upon the fact 
that the boys were earlier and oftener out from under the 
benign influence of Mother and home than were the girls, 
but it is a question if the problems are not somewhat similar. 

There seem to be so many things to break down the morale 
of boys, if they ever had any—bad books, bad men, bad pic- 
tures, and the like. The boy seems to be the target in many 
cases for the Devil’s sharpest arrows. This was especially 
shown to be true before the days of prohibition, and is some- 
what true now. It is authentically reported that saloon- 
keepers in villages used to sprinkle sawdust on the sidewalk 
in front of their saloons and then sprinkle this sawdust with 
beer just before the school closed and the boys were to pass 
that way. ‘This was for the purpose of making them familiar 
with the smell of beer. 

There appeared, in a liquor dealers’ magazine, the follow- 
ing statement, which shows more clearly what I mean: 


“The success of our business is dependent largely upon 
the creation of an appetite for drink. Men who drink liquor, 
like others, will die, and if there is no new appetite created 
our counters will be as empty as our coffers. 

“Our children must go hungry or we must change our 
business to that of some other more remunerative. 

“The open field for the creation of appetite is among 
the boys. After men have grown and their habits are formed 
they rarely ever change in this regard. 

“It will be needful, therefore, that missionary work be 
done among the boys, and I make the suggestion, gentlemen, 
that nickels expended in treats to the boys now will return. 
ABOVE ALL THINGS CREATE APPETITE.” 


174 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


A notice appeared in the newspaper of a large city that 
an unknown boy had committed suicide in a drunken brawl, 
but he could not be identified. Two hundred mothers went 
to look at the face of that dead boy to see if he was their boy. 

At the dedication of an institution for boys, in Massa- 
chusetts, Horace Mann, that great educator, made the state- 
ment: “This great institution is a good investment if it 
saves one boy.” At the close of the meeting a man came 
up and said, “Wasn’t that a rather extravagant statement ? 
Are you aware that this great property cost half a million 
dollars? Do you believe it to be a good investment if it 
saves only one boy?” Then Horace Mann uttered that sen- 
tence that has become historic, ‘‘Yes, it is a good investment 
if it were my boy that was saved.” We need to remember 
that most of the criminals are under twenty-one years of age. 

I am glad to champion the boys, because they need it, and 
we must keep them in the Sunday School if we are to save 
them. In a great state penitentiary where there were over 
nine hundred boys and men, upon investigation it was dis- 
covered that only ten of the whole number claimed that 
they had attended Sunday School as boys. Eighty-five said 
they went irregularly, and eight hundred and nine said they 
never went to Sunday School. 

In the city of Chicago, in one year, there were over fifteen 
hundred criminals between the ages of thirteen and twenty- 
three. The police captain in New York City said on one 
occasion, according to the report, “In twenty-five years I 
have never had a man or woman brought up for trial that 
I did not ask the question, ‘Did you attend Sunday School ? 
Not one had attended Sunday School regularly. If I could 
get the parents of America to keep their children in Sunday 
School regularly until fifteen years of age I believe they 
would be saved.” 

Out of 12,562 prisoners examined by the police captain 
of one of our midwest cities only one was a Sunday School 
member. 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 175 


Our purpose, in this chapter, is to treat the subject of 
the big boy wholly from the Sunday School standpoint, and 
to guide us in our consideration of this important and trou- 
bling subject I wish to ask five questions and answer them 
so far as I can. 


I. ARE THE BIG BOYS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ? 


The answer is, “No.” Of course there are many, many 
Sunday Schools with large numbers of boys, and for this 
we rejoice, but if we take the North American field as a 
whole we will find usually three girls to one boy of the 
teen age. On one occasion an investigation was made of 
one of our central States. It was discovered that five hun- 
dred thousand boys and girls of teen age were not in any 
Sunday School. Of this number three hundred and fifty 
thousand were boys. 

A great judge in one of our western cities some time ago, 
when trying a boy sixteen years of age for keeping money 
that he had found, said to his father and mother, “You ought 
to have kept this boy in Sunday School. Never have I known 
a boy to be charged with crime, in this court, who attended 
Sunday School with his parents, and I have been judge of 
this court a good many years. Sunday School boys do not 
come here. I never have had one before me, and I never 
expect to have one.” 

We need not argue this first point, for those who are 
at all familiar with the field as a whole know full well that 
the girls far outnumber the boys in our Sunday Schools. 


II. WHY ARE THE BOYS NOT IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ? 


There must be a reason. Boys go where they want to go. 
You never have to drive or coax boys to a baseball game. 
If they do not have the necessary money to enter through 
the gate, they will climb the trees and telegraph poles or 


176 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


perch on the tops of buildings, anywhere to get to see the 
game. W. OC. Pearce tells a story of three boys who were 
walking along the street one day, and one boy asked the 
others where he would like to have a third eye if it were 
possible to have one. One boy said he would like to have 
it in the back of his head, so he could see who was coming 
behind him. Another boy said he would like to have his 
in the top of his head, so he could see the birds in the trees. 
The third boy accused the other two of having no sense at 
all. Said he, “The place for the third eye is in the end 
of your finger, so you can stick it through the knothole and 
see the ball game!”’ Boys will find a way to go where they 
want to go. 

One reason they like the ball game is because they under- 
stand the game and there is nothing slow or pokey about it. 
The Sunday Schools will do well to imitate. 

We need to recognize that between twelve and eighteen — 
is the equinoctial storm period of life. 


1. One of the Main Reasons Why Boys Are Not in the 
Sunday School in Larger Numbers Is Because 
the Parents Are Not There 


I know of nothing in the whole realm of Sunday School 
work that would do the cause of righteousness so much good 
as for the fathers and mothers to be lined up with the Sun- 
day School, thus setting the example for their children. 

Edgar A. Guest has put this well in one of his charming 
poems, a part of which we quote below: 


“Be more than his dad; 
Be a chum to the lad; 
Be a part of his life every hour of the day. 
Find time to talk with him, 
Take time to walk with him, 
Share in his studies and share in his play. 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 177 


“You can inspire him 

With courage and fire him 

Hot with ambition for deeds that are good. 
He’ll not betray you, 

Nor ill repay you, 

If you’ve taught him the things that you should. 


“Father and son 

Must in all things be one, 

Partners in trouble and comrades in joy. 
More than a dad, 

Was the best pal you had. 

Be such a chum as you knew to your boy.” 


2. Church Members Are to Blame Likewise 


We are told that at present only one Church member in 
four attends the Sunday School at all. We have often said 
that the best way to hold boys in the Sunday School is to 
build a wall of fathers between them and the door. It is not 
difficult for the boys to get the right idea of the Church and 
school when they see there regularly their own fathers and 
the outstanding men of the place. Men especially have a 
large responsibility to face in this matter when their boys 
go wrong. 

When traveling upon the Pacific Coast, some time ago, 
this story was told to me and, in a way, it illustrates the 
point in hand. A man who had not been especially trained 
for the task was suddenly put in charge temporarily of an 
institution for feeble-minded boys and girls. He told the 
committee, in the beginning, that he had had no training 
in that matter but that he thought he could tell whether a 
boy or girl had good sense or not. He confronted his first 
case when a father and mother brought their boy, telling 
him that he was feeble-minded and they thought he belonged 
in the institution. The man said that if they would excuse 
the boy a little while he would try to tell them whether he 


178 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


belonged there or not. So he took this boy into another 
room. There he had prepared two tubs—a big tub full of 
water, with a dipper in it, and a smaller tub, empty and 
with a hole in the bottom of the tub, and a plug lying 
beside the hole but not in the hole. All the man said to 
the boy was, “Fill this little tub with water out of the big 
one.” The boy began to pour the water with the dipper, 
and soon noticed that the water all ran away through the 
hole. He looked for the cause of the leakage, saw the plug, 
put it in the hole, and then filled the little tub with water. 
The man brought the boy out to his parents again, told them 
about the test he had made, and said, “You take him home 
again. He’s got more sense than you have!” 

The three members out of four of our Churches who have 
nothing to do with our Sunday Schools are the plug that 
isn’t in the place where it ought to be. If they were there 
the leakage of boys would largely cease to be. 


3. Superintendents Are Often to Blame 


Boys are often driven out of Sunday School by the 
methods of the superintendent and by too much “goody, 
goody” talk. Many superintendents seem to feel that they 
must give pipe-organ talk to adults and jew’s-harp talk to 
boys. The superintendent, in many cases, must come in 
for a large share of the blame. 

Boys will not sit quietly in a dead, listless Sunday School 
that is carried on by changeless routine. They want things 
that appeal to them, things they must look up to rather than 
look down to. The songs are often disgusting to the boys. 
“T am Jesus’ little lamb” may be all right for the tiny tots, 
but the fourteen-year-old boy does not take to that kind of 
hymn to any alarming degree! He knows he is not a little 
lamb and he resents that statement. 

Superintendents oftentimes outrage the Sunday School, 
and especially the big boys, by allowing every visitor to — 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 179 


talk to the “dear children.” The story is told of an inci- 
dent of this kind, when a man well along in years asked the 
privilege of talking to the scholars and it was granted. As 
he began to talk he began to whine and ery. One boy said 
to another, “What is that old duffer crying about anyhow?’ 
“Aw,” said the boy, “if you had to talk and had no more 
to say than he has you’d ery, too!” 

Of course the boys ought to go to Sunday School, but 
many of them are not there because parents, Church mem- 
bers, Sunday School superintendents, are partly responsible. 
We gladly put the blame where it belongs as we understand 
it. The blame certainly should not be shifted to where it 
does not belong. 

A young wife in starting housekeeping, so the story goes, 
took a partly used sack of flour back to the grocer and said 
it was not good. When he asked why she said, “‘It’s tough. 
My husband cannot eat the biscuits I bake out of it!’ She 
was simply putting the blame in the wrong place. 

A Sunday School that understands itself—officered and 
taught by men and women who understand the school and 
who understand young life; a program that appeals to 
growing life and is exceedingly practical, fitting into the 
daily life of boys and girls and at the same time giving 
them opportunity for initiative and codperation—that is a 
kind of school the boys like—a school that lasts all the week 
and takes into consideration the daily life of the boy—not 
a seventh-day proposition, but a seven-day proposition. 

Boys will respond to the heroic. We are told that more 
Carnegie medals of honor for sacrifice have been awarded 
to boys and girls from ten to twenty years of age than to 
men. Youth is the time of heroic appeal. The Sunday 
School should bubble over with life, interest, energy, backed 
up by good teaching. The boys will respond to this every 
time. There must be something for them to take home in 
their heads and hearts. Just going to the table does not 
feed anybody. One must eat, and in order to eat he must 


180 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


have something nourishing and that he likes to eat. Young 
life should be considered a measure to be filled, not a cup 
to be drained. Many men owe the grandeur of their lives 
to the tremendous difficulties they have mastered as boys. 
It should be a place where high ideals are inculcated. 

The real test of a Sunday School is not how much the 
scholars have learned, but what have they become? Prof. 
William James, the great psychologist, said, “The object 
of education is that a boy may know a good man when 
he sees him.” 


III. CAN THE BOYS BE GOTTEN INTO THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ? 


There is but one answer, and that is, “Yes.” The proof 
of this is in the fact that there are more boys than girls 
in thousands of Sunday Schools in America, although, gen- 
erally speaking, the reverse is true. We have lists of these 
schools, and they represent city, village, and country. One 
school has forty per cent. more boys of teen age than it has 
girls. 

On one occasion I asked Dr. F. N. Peloubet, the great 
lesson-help writer, how we could get boys into the Sunday 
School. His answer was, “Have a good meal ready when 
you ring the bell.” 


IV. HOW CAN WE GET THE BOYS INTO THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ? 


Aye—there’s the rub! It is not so easy, but it can be 
done. Nor will it do itself. I remember, on one occasion, 
walking with a pastor around the gallery of his Sunday 
School and, noticing that there were more boys than girls, 
I asked him how they did it. His answer was significant: 
“Make them know you want them.” 

Make them welcome. Send big boys after big boys. This 
is the strength of the Y.M.C.A. 

Make the school a little harder to get into. That is, 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 181 


require some conditions. “Put the cookies on the lower 
shelf” is an old saying, but it lacks strength. The cookies 
on the top shelf, that require the boys to climb on a chair, 
are the cookies they really want. 

Have a definite aim or goal in the school that will make 
the boys work to reach it, such as, “Every member present, 
every Sunday, on time, with his own Bible, a liberal offer- 
ing, a studied lesson, and a mind to learn.” Every appli- 
cant for a position in the Bank of England is asked this 
question, “How do you spend the Sabbath Day ?”’ 

Make the school worth while. One lad put it into boy 
terms, when asked why he did not like the Sunday School, 
by saying, “In our day-school they know what they’re doing, 
but in the Sunday School they just mess with a fellow.” 

Make it a business to go after them. 


1. Go After Them Systematically 


There is nothing like the personal appeal. Printed mat- 
ter is good, but a printed invitation does not go very far. 
Somebody has said that a printed invitation under a one- 
cent stamp can talk, and the first thing it says upon being 
removed from the envelope is, “I am not worth two cents.” 

Personal work usually wins. When one boys goes to an- 
other and says, “Charlie, we have a dandy school and a great 
teacher! You ought to be in the game,” that kind of in- 
vitation will go farther than forty circulars. 

I heard an ex-Confederate soldier tell one time about be- 
ing caught too far away from camp during the Civil War, 
and some of the Union soldiers chased him. There were six- 
teen of them after him, all of them calling “Halt!” and 
firing at him, but he could outrun them and finally got away 
and hid behind a log in some brush, where he felt that he 
was safe; but one of the sixteen men had not given up, 
and when the Confederate soldier looked up over the top 
of the log he saw one of these men pointing his gun right 


182 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


at him, and he surrendered at once. One man did what 
sixteen could not do. It was a personal appeal! 

A story is told of the time General John A. Logan was 
sent to the United States Senate. There was a tie in the 
legislature of Illinois when the legislatures elected the sena- 
tors. It was absolutely necessary to change one vote in the 
Illinois legislature, which was a tie. About that time, the 
Democratic representative of Menard County died and it 
became necessary to elect somebody else in his place. It 
was a Democratic county, and nobody ever thought it could 
be carried by the Republicans, but an organization was set 
up and, without making any public appeal whatever every 
voter in the county was seen personally by some one who 
was working for a Republican representative and handed a 
ticket, all ready to vote, with the explanation that they were 
trying to send Logan to the Senate. When the thing was 
discovered it was too late to remedy the matter and the 
Republican was elected to the Illinois Legislature and that 
one vote sent John A. Logan to the United States Senate. 
Personal work will win. 


2. Go After Them Persistently 


Never give up. If one person cannot get a new scholar, 
send another after him, and another and another. How 
often I have heard my dear friend, B. W. Spilman of North 
Carolina, tell how the Tabernacle Baptist Sunday School 
of Raleigh went after new scholars. They had the town 
carefully charted, and some member of that school was in 
charge of every particular part of the city. They did not 
try to get people away from other schools, but they per- 
sistently went after those that were available for their school. 
The incident, as related to me, was that a young man moved 
from the country into a certain boarding-house and began 
to clerk in one of the stores of the city. That boarding-house 
was in the territory of a young woman belonging to the 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 183 


Tabernacle School. She went to the boarding-house, found 
the young man’s name, his place of business, ete., and turned 
it in to the superintendent of the school. As it was a young 
man, this card was turned over to the young men’s class. 

The very first thing that was done was for the teacher to 
read the name and then to ask who would go and invite the 
young man on Monday. The secretary of the class took 
down the name of the young man who promised to go. ‘‘Who 
will go after him on Tuesday, Wednesday?’ and so on, 
through the week, up to Sunday morning, the secretary of 
the class taking the name of every person and putting it 
down for the day on which he was to call. 

On Monday morning the young man was called upon and 
invited to Tabernacle Sunday School; the same on Tuesday, 
Wednesday, and so on to the end of the week. On Saturday 
the young man who called said, “I suppose you have heard 
about the Tabernacle Sunday School, have you not 2” and the 
young man replied, “Heard about it! I haven’t heard any- 
thing else this week!” 

On Sunday morning another man called for him at his 
boarding-house, but he was not ready to go and declined. 
When the class opened that morning the teacher called on 
the man who was to bring the new man in on Sunday morn- 
ing to introduce his friend. He told the story about the 
young man declining. Then the teacher said, “We surely 
have not done our work well this week. Secretary, call the 
roll.” The Monday man responded and said he had been 
there and given the invitation; the same with every one 
during the week. “Then,” said the teacher, “we must try 
it over again,” and the same thing was done another week. 

I do not know the result of this particular case, but I 
have been in that school and have been told that sometimes 
nearly one hundred calls were made on one person before 
they got him. This is persistent, personal work, and it will 
always win. 

Well do I remember on one occasion, prior to a political 


184 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


election, I did not register, as was required, because I was 
out of the city. Later a card came to my house with my 
full name and address upon it, telling me that I had not 
registered and that I should do so at once. I was still out 
of the city, however. Upon my return home I found the 
card, but failed to register even then, and I got another 
card reminding me that I had not registered and that such 
and such a day at such an hour was my last chance. I 
registered! When election day came I was again out of the 
city and could not vote, but I learned that at four o’clock 
on Election Day another card came, this time brought by 
a man to my door, and the card stated, “You have not voted. 
Polls close at six o’clock to-day.” 

All I have to say is that when people go after scholars 
for the Sunday School as political parties go after voters 
they are going to get the scholars. 


Vv. HOW CAN WE HOLD THE Boys? 


1. Belveve in Boys 


An old gentleman was coming out of the Church one day 
at the close of the service and just before the opening of 
the Sunday School. <A lot of boys were playing around the 
front of the Church, waiting for the school to open. The 
old gentleman said, “Whew! What are you boys doing 
here?’ This sentiment, though not put into words, has 
driven thousands of boys out of the Sunday School. 


NO PLACE FOR THE BOYS 


‘“‘What can a boy do, and where can a boy stay, 
If he is always told to get out of the way ? 
He cannot sit here, and he must not stand there, 
The cushions that cover that fine rocking chair 
Were put there, of course, to be seen and admired; 
A boy has no business to ever be tired. 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 185 


The beautiful roses and flowers that bloom 

On the floor of the darkened and delicate room, 
Are made not to walk on—at least, not by boys; 
The house is no place, anyway, for their noise. 


“Yet boys must walk somewhere; and what if their feet, 
Sent out of our houses, sent into the street, 
Should step round the corner and pause at the door, 
Where other boys’ feet have paused often before ; 
Should pass through the gateway of glittering light, 
Where jokes that are merry and songs that are bright 
Ring out a warm welcome with flattering voice, 
And temptingly say, ‘“Here’s a place for the boys.” 
Ah, what if they should? What if your boy or mine 
Should cross o’er the threshold which marks out the line 
’Twixt virtue and vice, ’twixt pureness and sin, 
And leave all his innocent boyhood within ? 


“Oh, what if they should, because you and I, 
While the days and the months and the years hurry by, 
Are too busy with cares and with life’s fleeting joys 
To make round our hearthstone a place for the boys? 
There’s a place for the boys. They’ll find it somewhere ; 
And if our own homes are too daintily fair 
For the touch of their fingers, the tread of their feet, 
They’ll find it, and find it, alas! in the street, 
’Mid the gildings of sin and the glitter of vice; 
And with heartaches and longings we pay a dear price 
For the getting of gain that our lifetime employs, 
If we fail to provide a good place for the boys.” 

| “Boston TRANSCRIPT.” 


2. Be Interested in What the Boys Are Interested In 


This is a principle that should not be overlooked. The 
boys will think of forty things in a minute they would like 
to talk about, but the teacher who shuts them all off per- 
emptorily and without sympathy is going to lose out in the 
long run. 


186 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


A teacher, on one occasion coming in a trifle late, found 
his boys talking about the baseball game of the day before. 
He considered that the rankest heresy and scolded them for 
it, telling them this was a Sunday School and not a baseball 
game. The boys at once lost their interest very naturally 
in all he had to say. What he should have done was to 
talk to them about baseball. He should have manifested an 
interest in the thing that interested them. Let the boys 
talk it out and the teacher ask questions about the game. 
They will come to the end of it presently, and then the 
teacher might put in a good lesson by asking the boys if 
they have ever thought how like a baseball game this life of 
ours is. As in the baseball game, nobody who “dies on 
third” ever gets marked up on the scoreboard. Thousands 
of boys grow into men who “die on third” and never “score” 
in this life. They are the boys of low ideals, unclean life, 
selfish interest. 

After all, he can get in a fine lesson on baseball, and the 
boys will be all the more ready to listen to the application 
of the Sunday School lesson of the day, even though half 
the time is gone. 

It is well for the teacher to be interested, during the week, 
in what the boys are interested in. The story is told of a 
teacher who had trouble with one of the boys but, learning 
that he was interested in electricity, went out of his way to 
hand to that boy papers on that subject which he came upon 
in his own reading. The teacher and the boy became “pals” 
through this channel. The teacher, already quoted, who 
learned that a troublesome pupil raised pigeons, won his 
boy by developing an intelligent interest in pigeons himself. 


3. Give the Boys Something To Do 


They are going to be busy, anyway, and it is just as 
well to lay out their work for them. This can be done and 
is being done over and over again—a class organization, 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 187 


some through-the-week activity or interest, placing responsi- 
bility upon the boys as a class and individually. Many a 
boy in the Sunday School has been held in the Sunday 
School by being given something to do, if it is nothing more 
than passing the hymn-books. Let the boys gather the offer- 
ing and, if they are old enough, mark the class cards, give 
out the papers, look up absentees, visit the sick of their class, 
have meetings occasionally during the week of their class 
organization—all of these things count and are essential. 


4. Know the Boys by Name 


It is enough to drive any boy out of the Sunday School 
to let him know you do not know his name after he has 
been there a reasonable length of time. Whatever you do, 
do not call a boy ‘Bub’; he resents it, just as a girl resents 
being called “Sis.” Better call a twelve-year-old boy “Mis- 
ter” than “Bub,” but, better still, know his first name. 
Know him not only on Sunday, but during the week, 
Know the boys in their working clothes. 

I never had a keener rebuke in my life than to have a 
grocer’s delivery-boy bring the groceries to my home and 
lay them upon the table in the kitchen and say as he started 
out, “You don’t know me during the week, do you, Mr. 
Lawrance?” The truth was, I had always seen him in his 
“Sunday” clothes; now he was dressed in overalls and a 
sweater and, not knowing that he was in the grocery business, 
as I should have known, I did not recognize the lad. I apol- 
ogized to him, for it was his due. 

It is well to take time to study the boys’ names, so that 
you will not slip up at this point. An old gentleman met 
a boy on the street one day and asked him his name. He 
told him. The next day the old gentleman met the same 
boy, near the same place, stopped and talked to him, and 
again asked him his name. The boy said, “It’s the same 
to-day as it was yesterday.” 


= 


188 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 
5. Don't “Don’t” the Boys 


All teaching should be positive and not negative. Boys 
hate to be “don’ted.”” They will always resent it. A little 
boy that was lost on one occasion, so the story goes, was 
asked his name, and he said it was “Johnny Don’t.” That’s 
all he had heard at home. The challenge of life is a positive 
challenge and, instead of being repressed, boys should be 
guided. Here is an old conundrum which illustrates the 
point: “How can you get boys to stop eating green apples?” 
The answer is, “Give them ripe ones.” ~ 

We spend altogether too much time trying to make boys 
sit on their safety-valves, when we ought to be teaching them 
to run their engines. That very impulsiveness and life that 
make a hoy break up the class some Sunday with his pranks 
will drive him to Africa as a missionary one day, if he gets 
turned in the right direction, or will make him an out- 
standing, honored figure at the head of some great enterprise 
in the town in which he lives. We must allow for animal 
spirits. Do not try to cram a four-quart boy into a pint pot. 


6. Do Not Treat All the Boys Alike 


They are not machines. The farmer studies his soil; the 
teacher should study his class. The peculiarities of all the 
boys should be studied and the boys dealt with accordingly. 
A wise mother who had raised seven sons to manhood, and 
every one of them had become an outstanding Christian man, 
several of them in the ministry, was asked one time what 
her method was. ‘Why, bless your heart,” she said, “I had 
seven methods.” 


7. Make the Lessons Real 


The lessons should be interpreted into the language of 
everyday life. The teacher should put himself into the les- 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 189 


gon with actual life and motion. Real teaching will always 
hold and interest. Of course it requires tact, and tact is 
an art worth cultivating. Indeed, it is necessary to culti- 
vate it. One of the essential conditions of good teaching is 
to keep the boys just as busy as possible. If they have pads 
and pencils and are asked to draw things or write things 
it will help. 

The best kind of teaching, and that which is the most 
easily retained, is that which requires the pupil to do some- 
thing. A wise teacher has said, ‘“‘We remember ten per 
cent. of what we hear; fifty per cent. of what we see; seventy 
per cent. of what we say; ninety per cent. of what we do.” 
Tt is the action in the moving-picture that draws the crowds. 


8. Keep Close to the Boys 


Never make the lesson a whip to snap over their heads. 
Think of them during the week, and of what you can do 
to build yourself into their affections. Have them in your 
home, give them something to eat and something to enjoy. 
“There is more grace than grease in a doughtnut, if served 
in the right way and at the right time.” 

More boys are won into the Christian life, no doubt, out- 
side of the Sunday School class than in it. One teacher was 
asked how he had such success with his boys, and he re 
sponded by saying that he took walks with them. 


9. Sympathize with the Boys 


Growing boys are awkward. They know it. They are 
impulsive. They have real problems of their own to solve, 
and we do not well to pass them over without consideration. 

The teacher should never be discouraged with a class of 
boys. You never can tell what they will develop into. This 
is one reason why boys should always have a man teacher, if 
possible—so he can go with them anywhere—in swimming, 


1909 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


if necessary, can appreciate their boyish freaks and pranks 
and understand their awkwardness. Real sympathy has 
saved many a boy. 

The story is told of the battle of El Caney, in the Spanish- 
American War, of a young boy still in his teens, as they 
were going into battle. He was frightened almost to death 
and threw himself upon the ground, crying. Some of the 
other soldiers kicked him, swore at him, abused him, but 
General Chaffee, his general, came along and was wiser than 
some of the men. He knew what the boy needed. Asking 
the boy what was the matter, he said, “I’m scared,” and 
the general encouraged him to get up and take his gun again 
and begin to fire toward the enemy. He said, “T’ll stand 
right by you here. They are more likely to hit me than 
you, because I’m larger, but I believe there is a soldier 
buttoned up in your jacket, and I want to see that soldier 
come out and be a real soldier.” This encouraged the lad, 
and he began to fire. THis fear left him, and bravery came. 
When the battle closed he was still chasing the enemy, 
firing with one hand, for his left arm had been put out of 
commission by a bullet. Sympathy saved the lad. 


10. Love the Boys 


Love is the hammer that will break the hardest heart. 
Dr. Sheldon says, ‘“There is nothing in this world but what 
will yield if you put enough love into it.” The door of 
love into a boy’s heart can be opened, but not with a crow- 
bar; we must know how. 

We must trust the boys. Judge Lindsay of Denver says 
this is the secret of dealing with boys. We must be happy 
with boys and enter into their daily life. You cannot get 
into a boy’s heart with a pick-ax, but when they know that 
you really love them the doors to their hearts fly open on 
hinges that are oiled. 

There is no joy like the joy of Christian service, even 


THE BIG BOY PROBLEM 191 


to a boy, and when a Christian boy leads another boy into 
the Christian life his happiness knows no bounds. 

At the International Convention, in 1884, I heard that 
great Baptist divine, Dr. John Broadus, tell the following 
incident in his address of welcome to the delegates. He 
went on to say that the greatest joy of his life was when, 
as a boy of sixteen, he found Christ as his Saviour, and 
immediately led another boy to Christ. He said he took 
him out behind the barn, on a pile of boards, and, sitting 
there together, he told this boy the story of his new-found 
joy—the story of Jesus. This boy became a Christian, and 
said to young John Broadus, “That is the prettiest story IL 
ever heard. I am going to make Jesus my Saviour. I thank 
you, John,” he said, as they separated. 

Then good Dr. Broadus went on to say that they had both 
lived in that same city, until now they were both gray-haired 
men, he a teacher in the seminary, the other man the driver 
of a dray; and he said he had never met that man during 
all those years but what he touched his cap as they passed. 
and said, “Thank you, John; thank you, John.” ‘Then 
Dr. Broadus said, “When I get to heaven, after seeing my 
Saviour and my father and mother, I want to see that lad. 
I know just what he will say when I meet him coming 
down the golden street. It will be just what he said this 
morning as I passed him on the way to this building to speak 
to you—‘Thank you, John; thank you, John.’ ” 


XVII 
THE CHALLENGE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 


The Sunday School is a new thing and is becoming newer 
every day. Its marvelously rapid development is the won- 
der of the Church and of the world. It has unlimited pos- 
sibilities, and it brings to the Church a tremendous chal- 
lenge, and to each individual as well. 


I. THE FIRST CHALLENGE—A BROADER VISION 


While tasks are necessary, visions are essential. No life 
or enterprise is ever successful without a vision. The wise 
man says in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, 
the people perish.” The Sunday Schools of to-morrow will 
match our vision of to-day only if backed by hard work and 
great faith. 

We have not realized the possibility before us. The Sun- 
day School challenges the Church to a greater vision, and 
this challenge must be met if we are to make the headway 
we ought to make. If the Church had the right vision of 
the Sunday School, it would stand by the school better than 
it does to-day. As a matter of fact, only one Church mem- 
ber in four attends the Sunday School at all, and out of 
every dollar given by Church members for Christian work, 
the Sunday School receives only about two cents. The 
Sunday School is the whitest part of the Church’s great 
white field, and the Church should have a bigger vision. 
The Sunday School is doing the greatest work in the world, 
teaching the greatest Book in the world, in the greatest in- 
stitution in the world, namely, the Church of God, and the 
King of Kings is our leader. 


We must have a broader vision of our own Sunday School, 
192 


CHALLENGE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 193 


or it never will be what it should be. Usually any school 
can be all that its friends want it to be if—and this brings 
us to our second challenge. 


II. THE SECOND CHALLENGE—A LARGER FAITH 


We must believe that God has a place for us. We must 
believe He will help us to reach that place. We must believe 
in ourselves and in our cause. The Bible tells us if we 
believe we have the thing we ask for, we have it. 

We must believe in the Sunday School. For thirty-five 
years I have given my life to the public Sunday School 
work, traveling into every part of North America, and many 
times abroad into other countries, and the more I see of 
the world and of Sunday School work, the more highly I 
prize the Sunday School. We have the unsaved at the right 
time of their lives; we have the workers and the weapon. 
That little acorn that Robert Raikes dropped away back 
yonder in old Gloucester has now grown to over three hun- 
dred thousand great oak trees, every one of them represent- 
ing a Sunday School with an average attendance of one 
hundred or more, making an enrollment, throughout the 
world, of over thirty millions, the largest army in all the 
world marshaling under a single Christian banner. 

The Church has not fully realized the value of its Sunday 
School. More than eighty out of every hundred of the 
Church’s increase come through the Sunday School. We 
are told that eighty-five Churches of every hundred were 
first Sunday Schools before they were Churches. 

Many of the noted judges in juvenile courts in our country 
have given testimony to the value of the Sunday School. 
Some of them have already been quoted in an earlier chap- 
ter. It is said of Judge Lewis J. Fawcett of Brooklyn—in- 
deed, the story was told to us by the late, beloved Frank L. 
Brown—that it was the custom of Judge Fawcett, when boys 
were brought before him for their offense, to make inquiry 


194 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


of them as to whether or not they attended Sunday School 
regularly. His own testimony was that not one was a regu- 
lar attendant of Sunday School when he committed the offense 
for which he was on trial. Judge Fawcett said, “I have had 
twenty-seven hundred boys before me, and not one of them 
was a Sunday School scholar. Sunday School boys do not 
come to see me.” 

One of the members of our International staff, J. Shreve 
Durham, tells a very pretty and interesting story of what 
the Sunday School really means to the children of the coun- 
try who have come to love it. A little, lisping girl named 
“Elizabeth” wandered out of her home in Louisville when 
her mother was busy, went out upon the street, turned the 
corner, and got lost. The more she tried to find her way 
back, the more she got lost, and wandered down toward the 
business part of Louisville and, realizing that she was lost, 
she began to cry. A fine business man, coming along at 
that time, said to her, “My little girl, what’s the trouble?” 
She said, “I’m losted!” He said, “Well, what is your 
name?’ “My name is ’Lithbeth.” “What’s your last 
name?” and she did not know. ‘Where do you live?” and 
she did not know. Then said the man, “If you cannot tell 
me your name nor where you live, how am I going to help 
you to find your home?” and the little child cried bitterly. 
Then all at once she had a bright idea and, shaking her 
head till her little curls snapped, and biting off her tears 
with her eyelids, and with a trace of a smile, she said, “If 
you'll jutht take me to my Thunday Thchool, I can find my 
way home mythelf.” ‘Where is your Sunday School ?” said 
the big man; she did not know, neither did she know the 
name, but he took her hand in his and walked down the 
street, knowing it must not be far away or a little girl like 
that would not be able to find her way home. Then the 
little girl forgot to ery because she had found a friend. 
Just then she spied the familiar steeple of the Walnut Street 
Baptist Church and, tearing away from the man and throw- 


CHALLENGE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 195 


ing out her arms, she said, “That’s my Thunday Thchool!” 
and, running around to the door where she entered every 
Sunday, she got her bearings and ran home into her mother’s 
arms! If we can teach the children the way to the Sunday 
School, they will find the way home to the Father’s House 
themselves. 

We need to remember that in the Sunday School we are 
builders and not menders of broken earthenware, and we 
_never can tell what will come out of a class of boys. You 
can count the seeds in an apple, but you cannot count the 
apples in a seed. We deal with immortal things that will 
tell the tale in another world. The Church of the future 
that neglects its Sunday School will die. Your Church, 
my Church, can have what it wants if it has faith to match 
its wants and works for it. 

The limitless power and opportunity of a Sunday School 
teacher are told in a remarkable incident that has recently 
come to light. We admit that it is extreme, but nevertheless 
it shows the possibilities. A member of our International 
Council staff, in the year 1923, was holding a convention 
in Idaho. There he met an old man, somewhat crippled, 
who was then seventy-three years of age, by the name of 
“Benjamin Dix.” He seemed much interested in the Sun- 
day School convention. Mr. Waite asked him what his hap- 
piest Sunday School memory was, and he replied, “My 
happiest Sunday School memory is a class of four boys I 
had in a little Methodist Sunday School in Caledonia, Ohio. 
I still receive letters from them on my birthdays.”” When 
further asked to give the particulars about that class, Mr. 
Dix responded, and the balance of the story I will let Mr. 
Waite tell as he has written it up for print in the “Sunpay » 
Scuoot Wortp” of October, 1923: 


“With much interest, I asked where the members of the 
class were on their teacher’s seventy-second birthday. In 
reply, I learned the following surprising and pleasing facts. 


196 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


From Central Africa, where he is a missionary, Charles 
Conway sent his message. On the stationery of the Comp- 
troller of the United States Currency came a second greeting 
from D. R. Crissinger, who has since become the chairman 
of the Federal Reserve Board. George J. Christian, Pres- 
ident Harding’s private secretary, wrote from the executive 
office of the Wurre Hovsr. And the fourth one was from 
none other than Warren G. Harding, President of the United 
States!” ? 


Ill. THE THIRD CHALLENGE—THE TEACHING OF THE 
REAL GOSPEL 


Do not misunderstand me. We do have the teaching of 
the real Gospel in large measure, but not to the extent we 
should have. We teach so much about Christ and we do not 
teach Christ enough. The blood of Jesus Christ can save. 
There are many classes in our Sunday Schools, according 
to our record books, but only two classes in reality, those 
who have accepted Christ and those who have not. This is 
Christ’s own division. “He that is not for me is against 
me.” Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.” “There 
is no other name under heaven given among men whereby 
we must be saved.” Our religion is not a book; it is not 
a principle—it is a Person, the Divine Son of God. Educa- 
tion has been tried; it is good, but it cannot save. Music 
has been tried; it is good, but it cannot save. Art has been 
tried; it is good, but it cannot save. Philosophy has been 
tried; it is good, but it cannot save. Creeds have been tried; 
they are good, but they cannot save. None of these things 
has ever yet, by itself, made a foul soul clean, and never 
can and never will. We need more of the teaching of 
Christ, for He is Lord of all, or not Lord at all. 


1 Mr. Waite has recently endeavored to secure a verification of the 
above statement, from Mr. Dix, through another friend in South Dakota, 
and Mr. Dix has written to that friend, stating that he sanctions the 
statement as it was made to Mr. Waite. 


CHALLENGE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 197 


Vital lessons hold; bookish lessons do not hold. We are 
responsible for results to the limit of our ability. The emer- 
gency is too great for non-essentials. When we are trying 
to rescue human beings from a burning building is no time 
to stop and study the literature on the shelves or the paint- 
ings on the walls; lives are at stake. 

The impelling power is love. “For God so loved the 
world that he gave” the best gift He had. Any teaching 
that does not center in love falls short. Pestalozzi said, “The 
essential feature of instruction is not teaching; it is love.” 
Religion is a life, and it is not an easy life; this is its charm. 
John R. Mott has said, “The call to heroism meets with 
a heroic response. Make the Gospel hard, and you make 
it triumphant.” The Church has too much to enjoy and 
too little to endure to develop its spiritual muscles. All 
missions prove this statement. The growth of the Christian 
religion in China, immediately following the Boxer Upris- 
ing, is a strong testimony. 

It is the whole business of the whole Church to give the 
whole Gospel to the whole world as speedily as possible. 


IV. THE FOURTH CHALLENGE—A DEEPER PERSONAL 
CONSECRATION 


‘Again, do not misunderstand me. Many are thoroughly 
devoted to their work, but we need a deeper consecration. 
The writer is personally conscious of this himself. It is 
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the 
Lord of hosts.” 

Men are seeking better methods, but God is seeking better 
men. There is but one inlet of power, and that is the Spirit 
of God. It may go forth in various ways—by money, 
words, work, prayer, and life itself. We need more prayer, 
more waiting upon God, to make our work effective, and 
prayer is the source of our greatest power. We cannot move 
the world, but by prayer we can move the hand that moves 


198 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


the world. We cannot understand this marvelous power of 
prayer, but we can use it. 

An old lady in the city of Chicago held up her feeble 
hand and waved to the thundering car as it came along. 
It stopped and took her on board. She did not understand 
electricity, but she used it and got home. 

When the first “Wireless” test was made across the Con- 
tinent, John Wanamaker was invited to be present at the 
eastern end, and he sent word to a friend to be present at 
the other end, on the Pacific Coast, and that they would 
endeavor to talk together. This they did. At the conclu- 
sion of the conversation, the president of the telegraph com- 
pany said to Mr. Wanamaker, “Isn’t that the most wonder- 
ful thing in telegraphing that you ever heard of?’ Mr. 
Wanamaker replied, “It is very wonderful, but I know some- 
thing more wonderful still,” and, taking from his pocket 
a little book, he read the sixth verse of the Thirty-fourth 
Psalm, “This poor man cried and the Lord heard him.” 
That is the original “Wireless.” 

To the consecrated soul, common drudgery ceases to be 
common, and it ceases to be drudgery. Character is caught, 
not taught. It is like the measles; you cannot give it unless 
you have it. God’s pathway to a heart is through a heart. 
A truly consecrated life becomes like Peter’s shadow—a 
miracle-working benediction. 

The truly consecrated life is a humble, lowly life. The 
most powerful weapon our Master ever used to teach men 
humility was a basin of water and a towel tied about his 
waist. “I am among you as one that serveth” is a good 
watchword for Christian workers. Love never asks how 
much it must do, but how much it may do. Love never seeks 
an easy place when it realizes that it is trying to help God 
to win back to Himself this prodigal old world. 

When Jesus touches the heart, it is not hard to take time 
to prepare and to work, to give days and nights and life 
itself. Jesus was thirty years preparing for three years of 


‘CHALLENGE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 199 


public work. If the older classes of our young people could 
get a real close touch of Jesus Christ, there would be no 
difficulty in filling up the training classes; there would be 
no difficulty in securing plenty of teachers and our work 
would grow apace. There is enough of the living fire in 
every Church and school to-day, if fully consecrated to God, 
to bring that Church to a new experience. 

Let us remember that we are the lessons we are teaching. 
The Bible is to be carried to every creature on earth, but 
the best binding for the Bible is shoe-leather. We are preach- 
ing every day by our lives. Let us pray that the Gospel 
we write may preach Him every day, and let us work and 
pray as never before for our beloved Church and Sunday 
School. Success often lies just beyond the place where we 
are tempted to give up. Let us never be discouraged. No 
work for God is ever lost. We are responsible for doing 
our best, and not responsible for results. There is no re- 
ward promised in the Bible to the successful people, but 
always to the faithful. In God’s good time we shall see 
the reward of our labors, if we have sought only His glory. 
Jesus said, “If any man will serve me, him will my Father 
honor.” 

It ofttimes happens that when we think we have failed 
we have really done well. The results are not always ap- 
parent at once, but they are sure to come, and we shall see 
them by and by, if not to-day. Therefore, the Sunday 
School worker should never be discouraged, for the fruit 
of his labors will be apparent later on, if not now. 


“T shot an arrow into the air, 
It fell to earth, [ knew not where; 
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight 
Could not follow it in its flight. 


“T breathed a song into the air, 
It fell to earth, I knew not where; 


200 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


For who has sight so keen and strong 
That it can follow the flight of song? 


“Long, long afterward, in an oak, 
I found the arrow, still unbroke; 
And the song, from beginning to end, 
I found again in the heart of a friend.” 
—Lone@FELLow. 


Oe eee 


XVIII 


THE HOME, THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND 
THE NATION 


Civilization is on trial. Whether or not it is to survive 
is the question which at this moment is pressing hard upon 
thinking, discerning men and women the world over. The 
world is trailing in the wake of the greatest war it has ever 
known. That war is ended, so far as battlefield action is 
concerned, but the results of it abide with us still. Figu- 
ratively speaking, the world is on its face, torn and bleeding 
and asking what it shall do to be saved. There is a spirit 
of hard unrest, “don’t-care-ism” everywhere. Nothing seems 
to be settled. Orime is rampant. Nations are distrusting 
each other. There are riots, revolutions, incipient wars, and 
bottled-up revenge everywhere. 

In addition to this, money, for the most part, is plentiful, 
and the people are pleasure-mad. The scramble for money 
is so great that many of the methods of securing it will not 
stand the light. We find lowered morals, shattered ideals, 
disregard for religious things, selfish ambitions reigning 
everywhere. Earnest, devoted, and discerning men and 
women are racking their brains to discover some remedy 
and, if possible, apply it, that will set this old world on 
its feet again and turn its face in the right direction. It 
is our purpose, at this time, to call attention to the two 
agencies which are often overlooked, but which hold in their 
grasp the remedy for this maelstrom of evil. 


I. THE HOME 


The home is God’s earliest and holiest school. It is the 
first institution of His planting upon the earth, and is chief 
201 


202 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


of all His agencies for bringing His will to pass. It out- 
dates the Church and far surpasses it in influence. Good 
homes make good nations. There can be no good nations 
where the homes are not right. In God’s Word we read 
of the father being the priest of his own home. Through- 
out the New Testament we read over and over again of 
“the Church in thine house,” indicating that the home is 
the seat of religion. 

The home is the jackscrew of all true national life. Were 
it not that there are many homes that are ideal in their con- 
duct and influence, this world of ours would have been upon 
the rocks long, long ago. On the south shore of England, 
we are told, there is a large fresh-water spring, the mouth 
of which is at the water’s edge, so that when the tide is in 
the salt water covers up the mouth of the spring, but the 
fresh water continues to flow. When the tide is out, fresh 
water flows forth, so that the thirsty may drink. Of course 
the influence of this fresh water, pouring forth into the salt 
water, 1s to make it less salt; in other words, to purify 
it. It cannot overcome the saltness of the sea, but it modifies 
it somewhat in that locality and makes it fresher than it 
would be otherwise. 

Thus it is with the influence of good homes, sending forth 
their streams of pure, refreshing influence into the great sea 
of sin and sorrow in the world. If the homes of this kind 
were numerous enough the world’s hurt would be healed. 
Parents must accept the responsibility for the home. The 
ideal home as Jaid down in the Book is one where God’s 
name is honored, where the children are raised up in the 
fear of God and sent forth to exert the right kind of in- 
fluence in the world. 

To rescue was the voice of yesterday; to prevent is the 
divine whisper of to-day. Mr. Moody said, “If we can save 
one generation we have put the powers of darkness out of 
business.” The little child that Jesus put in the midst so 


HOME, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND NATION 203 


many years ago is still in the midst, and if this child can 
be raised as it should be raised our troubles will largely pass 
away. ‘The future is vulnerable only at the point of child- 
hood.” Training the children in the home is the home’s 
chief function. As goes the home, so go the nation and the 
world. The beautiful picture presented in “The Cotter’s 
Saturday Night,” repeated frequently all over the world, 
would solve the problem. 

The Bible is the one great home book. Where the Bible 
goes, Christian civilization goes. Where the Bible is not, 
there is no civilization. No nation can forget God and sur- 
vive. This is history, and cannot be gainsaid. While the 
Bible is the most popular book in the world even yet, and 
perhaps growing more so continually, its influence is not as 
vital as it should be. In many homes it has a place, as 
some one has said, “in case of sickness,” and is not opened 
upon mother’s knee as the children stand about as often 
as it ought to be. A recent and thorough survey that was 
made of one hundred homes where there were one hundred 
and fifty children revealed the following facts: 

In the homes where both parents were Christians and 
members of the Church sixty-six per cent. of the children 
became Christians; 

Where one parent was a Christian and a member of the 
Church, thirty-three per cent. of the children became Chris- 
tians; 

Where neither of the parents was a Christian, only ten 
per cent. became Christians. 

The Montessori method of educating children by allow- 
ing them to do largely as they want to do will not work 
in leading them into the Christian life. One of the greatest 
faults of our day is that the children rule the home and, 
in too many cases, do just as they please and have every- 
thing they want. We heard, the other day, of an epitaph 
upon a tombstone, which read as follows: 


204 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


“Here lies our little daughter, Caroline— 
Aged, six years. 
She died of indigestion. 


“Tt is a comfort, however, to her parents 
to remember that during her lifetime she was never 
denied anything she desired to eat.” 


Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis tells a story about Coleridge 
and his deist friend. Coleridge was a Christian man, and 
the deist endeavored to convert him to his way of thinking. 
When it came to the training of their children the deist said, 
“The children should be allowed to grow up having largely 
their own way in every respect. By and by when they come 
to the age of reason they will turn to what is right.” Cole- 
ridge said nothing but prepared an argument to give to 
his deist friend later on. They lived neighbors. Coleridge 
divided his garden into two parts. One part he cultivated 
carefully, kept out all the weeds, and later in the summer 
could show a fine display of vegetables and flowers. The 
other part of his garden he paid no attention to whatever 
and, of course, it grew up to weeds. When the right time 
came he called his deist friend to look at his garden, and 
his friend asked him why he had left that part of the 
garden without any care. “Oh,” said Coleridge, “I am 
simply following your rule of letting the garden take care 
of itself, and by and by the vegetables and flowers will 
appear.” The deist saw the point that his friend was trying 
to make, and confessed that he was wrong. 

Fewer than half of the children ever become Christian, 
and the parents, more than anybody else, are to blame, for, 
after all, childhood is the hope of the world, for the children 
of yesterday are the heirs of to-morrow. ‘Then chanted the 
voice a song of inspiration: 


“Children of yesterday, heirs of to-morrow, 
What are you weaving? Labor and sorrow ? 


HOME, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND NATION 205 


Look to your looms again: Faster and faster 
Fly the great shuttles prepared by the Master. 
Life’s in the loom: Room for it! Room! 


“Children of yesterday, heirs of to-morrow, 
Lighten the labor and sweeten the sorrow; 
Now, while the shuttles fly faster and faster, 
Up, and be at it! At work with the Master. 
He stands at your loom: Room for Him! Room! 


“Children of yesterday, heirs of to-morrow, 
Look at your fabric of labor and sorrow, 
Seamy and dark with despair and disaster. 
Turn it—and lo! The design of the Master! 
The Lord’s at the Loom. Room for Him! Room!” 


It does take a great deal of patience, for the children 
of to-day seem to be so much more “heady” than in the 
days gone by, and yet this statement is being greatly dis- 
counted in our day. Recently there have been unearthed, 
so we are informed, two tablets, not far from Babylon, that 
date back to 2800 B.c. One of them, having been deciphered, 
reads as follows: “Times are not as they used to be.” 
Another one reads: ‘The world must be coming to an end. 
Children no longer obey their parents and every man wants 
to write a book.” 

The home should be a unit. Parents and children should 
live together and each be interested in everything that con- 
cerns the rest. There are so many things to do in the home 
to keep up appearances, or, as indicated in the cartoons of 
some of our papers, “Keeping Up with the Joneses,” that 
the children are often neglected in their training when this 
is the one thing that should never be neglected. 


“A woman sat by a hearthside place, 
Reading a book with a pleasant face, 
Till a child came up, with a childish frown, 
And pushed the book, saying: ‘Put it down.’ 


206 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


“Then the mother, slapping his curly head, 
Said: “Troublesome child, go off to bed! 
A great deal of Christ’s life I must know 
To train you up as a child should go.’ 


“And the child went off 
To bed to ery, 
And denounce religion— 
By and by. 


“Another woman bent over a book, 
With a smile of joy and an intent look, 
Till a child came up and jogged her knee, 
And said of the book: ‘Put it down—take me.’ 
Then the mother sighed as she stroked his head, 
Saying softly: ‘I shall not get it read; 
But Dll try, by loving to learn His will, 
And His love into my child instill.” 


“That child went to bed 
Without a sigh, 
And will love religion— 
By and by.” 


Children are the world’s chief asset. The latest born 
baby is God’s latest love-pledge to the world and His rain- 
bow of promise. The Church is a great ally in helping 
the home to raise the children. Parents have not done their 
duty till they have firmly fixed in the minds of their chil- 
dren the great essentials of the Christian faith and helped 
them to memorize some of the beautiful passages of God’s 
Book. Whether or not the Bible is a fascinating, helpful, 
uplifting Book in later life depends very largely upon the 
attitude the children have had toward it in their youth. 

John Ruskin said that the Scriptures gave him his English 
style before he was seven years of age. Daniel Webster, the 
great orator, committed many of the Psalms, in order to keep 
up his English to the highest level. In all too many in- 


HOME, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND NATION 207 


stances the home has failed to teach religion to the children 
as it should. 


II. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 


It is quite the fad these days, in some quarters, to min- 
imize the Sunday School. Nobody realizes its defects so 
much as those who believe in it and are devoting their lives 
to it. We need a reévaluation of the Sunday School, and 
must have it if we are ever going to accomplish what we 
should. ‘The Sunday School is absolutely essential. It is 
the dean of the faculty among all religious agencies. It 
is the only popular school where God’s Word is the text- 
book and that is attended by millions of children and young 
_ people. It is the only school where the mass of our chil- 
dren can be taught religion, and through the Sunday School 
we must offset the home’s delinquency. It offers the quick- 
est and cheapest way to carry the teachings of Jesus to 
the people. It would take libraries of books to record the 
instances that show the vital power of the Sunday School. 

In many ways it is the greatest religious institution in 
the world, because it is the Church feeder. It is the builder 
of Churches and the builder of good citizenship. Roger 
Babson said, in a recent address: 


“Statistics lead me to believe that the faith, industry, 
thrift and enterprise in people are very largely due to re- 
ligion. The American captains of industry to-day owe the 
basis of their success to the religion of themselves or others. 
The Sunday School is one of the most valuable institutions 
existing. A business man will be happiest by following the 
teachings of Jesus; the Golden Rule is practical; religion 
is the grEaTEsT of undeveloped resources.” 


The Honorable David Lloyd-George, former Premier of 
Great Britain, said, in a public address just before leaving 
our country, on the occasion of his visit here, “All that I 


908 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


am and whatever I have accomplished I owe to the Sunday 
School.” 

One never can tell the far-reaching influence of the Sun- 
day School. As has already been stated here, eighty-five per 
cent. or more of the Church membership of to-day comes 
through the Sunday School. The age of formation, we are 
told, is from one to nine years; the age of information nine 
to twelve; the age of transformation twelve to sixteen. The 
early, growing years are the years of fruitfulness for Chris- 
tian decision and service. Seventy-one per cent. of the con- 
versions occur under twenty-one years of age, and ninety-six 
per cent. under twenty-five. This means that when young 
persons pass the twenty-five-year mark, only one in four 
ever enters the Christian life. | 

The penitentiaries and jails are full of people, almost 
every one of whom came from the class that did not go 
to Sunday School. According to the records of the jails, 
not more than one in one hundred of the criminals of our 
day were raised in Sunday Schools. This statement ought 
to carry conviction. When we remember the vast numbers 
of our young people who are not now in the Sunday School 
and, for the most part, not receiving any religious instruc- 
tion of any sort, it ought to be enough to make American 
fathers and mothers stop and think. 

The following is quoted from ‘“Tum Laprzs’ Home Jour- 
NAL’: 


“A little girl whose parents were members of a famous 
religious sect always associated with Utah was asked if she 
knew where Boston is. ‘Oh, yes,’ she replied, ‘we send ° 
missionaries there.’ If we live in the East, we probably 
think that remark ‘funny.’ It isn’t, because there isn’t a 
city in these United States, and scarcely even a hamlet, that 
is not in urgent need of missionaries being sent to its chil- 
dren. According to the United States census, there are in 
this country 25,000,000 children under twelve years of age, 
and according to reliable figures that have been compiled by 


HOME, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND NATION 209 


religious and philanthropic organizations twelve million of 
these children are absolutely without religious instruction 
of any kind. Such persons are generally regarded as 
heathen. Are American children heathen? This is alarm- 
ing. If this condition continues, what sort of civilization 
shall we have twenty years hence? ‘This state of things 
must be changed or we shall be nationally only materialistic 
if not atheistic. We should take a look at our own glass 
house just now while it is quite the proper thing to throw 
stones at another nation for having trod a wrong path. 
Religious education must have a vital place in the recon- 
struction program of the future. As to what we may expect 
in twenty years if we fail to give our children ¢rue religious 
education, we need only to look at Russia, Germany, Mexico, 
China, and other nations. 

“The lack of true religious education in Germany has 
resulted in the use of chemistry, physics, biology, literature, 
art, and so forth, for the destruction of mankind instead 
of for the uplift of humanity. So it will be with us, even 
though that destruction be only by deterioration. 

“A democracy of selfish people, having no religious edu- 
cation, will result in the ruin and downfall of the nation 
—for every splendid gift will be used to glorify self and 
administer to self instead of meeting the need of a world 
begging for the help to set itself on the road to God. 

“The public schools of America can develop a race that 
is efficient and patriotic, but under the limitations which 
seem to be unavoidable our excellent public schools alone 
can never develop a race that will be Christian. This can 
be done only by having in every community schools of re- 
ligion as effective in the teaching of their subjects as the 
public schools are in their work. The forerunner of such 
an institution is the steadily improving modern Sunday 
School. Much fun has been made of the Sunday School 
as an educational institution, but the fact remains that where 
a good one exists its one hour of work probably contributes 
more to the development of Christian character in the aver- 
age boy than any other single hour in the week. 

“Three elements are necessary in order to enable the 


210 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Sunday School to do the work so desperately needed by the 
nation: An aroused public conscience, trained teachers, and 
the adoption of modern Sunday School technic.” 


We are glad also to present here a quotation from “THE 
Literary Dicrst”: 


“The reconstruction of the world is Christianity’s great- 
est task and our opportunity; but task and opportunity can- 
not be met without moral enlightenment and religious in- 
spiration. This is, therefore, a matter of national concern, 
for it involves citizenship, with which no one should be 
trusted who does not recognize and honor God, believe the 
truth He has revealed, obey the laws He has handed down, 
and share the hopes He entertains for man and the goal 
of brotherhood He contemplates for the world. Therefore, 
the spiritual welfare of every child must be secured and pro- 
vided, for in the last analysis the security of the world de- 
pends upon the salvation of childhood.” 


From “Tur Country GentLtEMAN,” likewise, we are glad 
to make the following quotation: 


“By every count, at the very least and without the slight- 
est reference to religious enthusiasms or cant, the young can- 
not afford to remain ignorant of, and we cannot afford that 
they should go out into life uninformed as to what Christi- 
anity really means as it les in the minds and hearts of the 
greatest thinkers of to-day. 

“People of all religions and of no religion have been 
forced to note that our progress is going to depend largely 
upon the attitude of young people concerning religion.” 


No less a discerning man that the late Henry J. Heinz, 
of pickle fame, has said, ““The Sunday School is the greatest. 
living foree for character-building and good citizenship.” 
At another time he said, “I esteem it a privilege to bear 
testimony that in my life, after a business experience of 


HOME, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND NATION 211 


fifty years, the Sunday School has been an influence and an 
inspiration second only to that of a consecrated mother.” 
Mr. Heinz practically devoted his life to the Sunday School. 
At the time of his death he was a member of the Executive 
Committee of the County Association in which he lived, and 
had been a member of it for twenty-four years, several times 
its President. He left the County Sunday School Asso- 
ciation fifty thousand dollars in his will. He was President 
of the Pennsylvania State Sunday School Association and 
had held that position for eleven years. He left that asso- 
ciation seventy-five thousand dollars in his will. He was 
Vice-President of the International Sunday School Associa- 
tion and had been a member of the Executive Committee for 
many years. He left them seventy-five thousand dollars 
in his will. He was likewise Chairman of the World’s 
Sunday School Executive Committee, and had been con- 
nected with that committee for more than ten years. He 
left them one hundred thousand dollars. This large sum 
of three hundred thousand dollars, left for Sunday School 
work, was, according to the will, to be invested as a trust 
fund and the interest paid to these various associations, thus 
maintaining perpetually the annual gifts he had been mak- 
ing for many years. 

These testimonials to the value of the Sunday School 
ought to be convincing. They ought likewise to teach the 
Church that here is the whitest part of its great white 
field, and that nobody can measure the influence for good 
upon those who faithfully stand by the Sunday School and 
learn its lessons, and the influence for bad upon those who 
neglect this means of early religious training. 

John Prucha and Leon Czolgosz were schoolmates in day 
school. They had the same kind of chance, one apparently 
no more promising than the other. ‘The first one went to 
Sunday School and learned, from the Bible, the principles 
of right living and right citizenship. He is now the Bo- 
hemian pastor of a Congregational Church in Ohio. ‘The 


212 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


second lad, with every opportunity the first one had, refused 
to go to Sunday School and grew up on the street. The 
fatal bullet that took from our country its beloved President, 
William McKinley, was fired by this second lad in the music- © 
hall at Buffalo. 

Childhood is the easiest, cheapest, and best time to reach 
the lives of the coming generation. Adam Olarke became 
a Christian at four years of age, according to his own tes- 
timony; Frances Willard, at six; Jonathan Edwards, at 
seven; William Penn, at nine; Isaac Watts, also at nine; 
and Polycarp, at ten. The number could be multiplied in- 
definitely. 

Before passing this point we must say that here is the 
conclusive argument for the Church’s giving better attention 
to the Sunday School than it does now or has ever done 
in the past. Our Sunday Schools must be conducted in a 
manner that will make them not only attractive to the young 
people but a great deal more effective than they are now. 
They ought to be made hard to get out of and carried on 
in such a manner as to make the children love to attend. 
“The Sunday School must realize that it shares, with the 
public school, a common task. It must do its part of the 
work of education with as much definiteness and soundness 
of method and efficiency of organization as the public school 
maintains. It is now recognized that effective and unified 
work of religious education is absolutely necessary, if any 
permanent and adequate response is to be made to the in- 
creasing demand for qualified leadership in this great field.” 
It is one thing to kindle a fire, and another to keep it going. 

In the Wortp’s Exposrrion at St. Louis, some years ago, 
there was a great picture on display which attracted crowds 
of people from all the country, and even brought artists from 
the Old Country to look at it. It was called “The Guardian 
Angel.” A rustic bridge extended over a great abyss. A 
child was walking across the narrow bridge. One of the 
guard railings was gone and the Guardian Angel was in this 


HOME, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND NATION 213 


place with her wings spread out so that the child would not 
fall over. A farmer and his wife came to see the picture, 
but he took no interest in it and started away. She pulled 
him back, speaking extravagant words about the picture, 
but he would look a moment and then pass on. A great 
artist was there, and saw the farmer’s attitude. He looked 
up, and caught him by the arm and said, “Man, haven’t 
you any sense? ‘That is a wonderful picture. You ought 
to admire it!” But the farmer retorted, “Why don’t the 
fool angel fix the bridge?’ 

Meanwhile, the agencies that wreck nations are ageres- 
sively at work. The Secretary of the Communist Party of 
America, it is said, reported at its convention recently that 
it distributed within the year 2,183,000 leaflets in English; 
104,000 books; and 61,000. pamphlets; and practically the 
same amount in foreign languages. It published nineteen 
papers, printed in seven languages, with a combined cir- 
culation of over one million copies each month. Their 
watchword was, “Workers, prepare now to take control of 
your shop, of your lives, of your happiness. Remember, the 
fundamental of the Communist Party is, “There is no God.’ ” 

The following quotation is from a catechism for Bohemian 
and American schools: 


“Gop—God is a word representing an imaginary being 
which people themselves have worked out. 

“Jesus Curist—lLllegitimate son of a virgin named 
‘Mary.’ 

“BistE—Written by ordinary men. Record of notions, 
not events. Undefendable, unbelievable.” 


The I. W. W., we are told, maintain thirteen newspapers 
printed in English and nineteen printed in foreign lan- 
guages. Under these influences also the translations of 
Paine and Ingersoll are broadcast. 

As over against such statements as this, listen to what our 


214 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


late, war-wounded President said, just a few months before 
he (Woodrow Wilson) died: 


“Our civilization cannot survive materially unless it be 
redeemed spiritually. It can be saved only by becoming 
permeated with the spirit of Christ and being made free 
and happy by the practices which spring out of that spirit. 
Only thus can discontent be driven out and all the shadows 
lifted from the road ahead.” 


Also, what President Harding said, on the last trip he 
ever took, and what he repeated in almost every address 
he made: 


“I tell you, my countrymen, the world needs more of 
the Christ, the world needs the spirit of the Man of Naza- 
reth. If we could bring into the relationships of humanity, 
among ourselves and among the nations of the earth, the 
brotherhood that was taught by Christ we would have a 
restored world.” 


Likewise, the words from President Coolidge are most sig- 
nificant : 


“The Sunday Schools furnish to-day the great agency 
by which spiritual ideals may be made a part of the lives 
of the younger generation of Americans and the growth of 
the schools will mark the spread of these principles. I wish 
you every success in any effort which may strengthen and 
build up your Sunday School Council.” 


III. THE NATION 


In view of what we have said, the result of the home and 
the Church, through its Sunday School, must be easily rec- 
ognized. The nations of the earth rise or fall, according 


to their Christian training. It has always been so, and 


HOME, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND NATION 215 


probably will so remain. The first ray of light and hope 
that came to dispel the Dark Ages was when the religious 
training of the children was again taken seriously by home 
and Church. It is absolutely impossible for a nation to live 
in open defiance of God’s law. 

The relationship of the home to the Sunday School and 
of both home and Sunday School to the nation should be 
one of sympathy, participation, and support. While we are 
to remember, as we indicated in the beginning, that the 
home is God’s earliest and holiest school, and while we 
have paid our highest tribute of honor to the mothers and 
fathers in the home, and have recalled the great contribution 
they are making toward the development of conscience in 
the nation, we wish to close with the finest tribute to the 
Sunday School teachers of America we have ever read. It 
is from the fertile brain and great heart of my old-time 
friend and associate, now gone, who has built himself in- 
delibly into the conscience-forming fabric of our nation. I 
refer to Prof. Howard M. Hamill, D.D.: 


“There are heroes of war, and heroes of peace, though the 
heroism of the latter is rarely the subject of praise. As 
a boy at Appomattox under Lee, I witnessed the final passing 
of his ragged veterans, with their banners furled and bugles 
silent. Vanquished, indeed, they were, but I knew that 
thenceforth they belonged to the ranks of the immortals. A 
little later, in the presence of its last grand review, I lifted 
my gray cap and bowed my head in sincere tribute to the 
victorious army of the North as it was marching in splendor 
down the streets of Washington. 

“But here is an army greater in numbers and not less 
heroic in achievement—the 1,500,000 Sunday School teach- 
ers of America. Pardon me if I reserve my highest hom- 
age for this unnamed and unrecognized host. These are 
the real guardians of the Republic and defenders of its 
altars and its homes, though no poet has risen to exalt their 
heroism or orator to commemorate their service. From the 


216 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


natal hour of the Republic until now, the Sunday School 
teachers have been the vanguard of our freedom, the pio- 
neers of our progress. Not freedom from bondage of body, 
but from bondage of soul in sin and wickedness; not progress 
in material wealth and power, though they have contributed 
largely by their work to these, but progress in that ‘right- 
eousness which exalteth a nation.’ Their mission was a 
twofold one, educational and evangelistic—to teach the youth 
of the nation the meaning of God’s great Book, the one vol- 
ume of inspired wisdom and the world’s greatest classic; and 
so teaching it, to make it the lamp unto their feet, the light 
unto their pathway. How well they did their work let the 
tens of thousands of churches and God-fearing communities 
that mark their onward progress attest. Their burden was 
a triple one—to serve the neglectful and godless home and 
to take the place of the natural parent in bringing up his 
children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; to form 
the conscience of the State, not by ethical or philosophical 
code of man’s invention, but by the codes of Sinai and Cal- 
vary; to fill the fast depleting pews of the Church by mil- 
lions of young recruits, equipped and eager for Christian 
service. How well they have borne this triple burden let 
the facts answer—that few American homes can be found 
upon which the benediction of the Sunday School teacher 
has not fallen; that never as now has our Republic so well 
deserved the name of a Christian Republic, with conscience 
too often tolerant of evil, yet in a great crisis as sure and 
invincible as the lightning’s bolt; that the Church draws 
year by year 86 per cent. of its membership and 95 per 
cent. of its ministry from the classroom of the Sunday 
School teacher. Yet of all this mighty host of Christian 
workers not one is paid for his priceless service in gold 
or silver; not many are even thanked for their lifelong min- 
istry either by home or State or Church; and all of them are 
subjected to captious criticism by pretentious scholars and 
‘professors,’ who gather into convention to make mock of 
the simple homegrown ways and unpedagogic art of these 
plain teachers from farm and factory and home. ‘Old- 


fashioned,’ they are and crude and bungling doubtless as — 


HOME, SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND NATION 217 


to method; but they have learned and are living the story 
of the Cross, and are finding a short-cut to the hearts of 
our boys and girls. 

“Army of the Lord, ‘Old Guard’ of the Republic, min- 
isters of the Home, most loyal and heroic servants of the 
Church, let those who know and love you join with me in 
saluting you—the Sunday School Teachers of America.” 


XIX 
THE PASTOR AND THE SUPERINTENDENT 


These two men should pull together. They should be a 
double team and not go tandem. They should recognize 
that the work is one, also that religious education is the 
greatest work of the Church. The Pastor should have a 
Sunday School vision; the Superintendent should have a 
Church vision, each working for the whole enterprise. 

The Pastor’s relation to the Sunday School and the Su- 
perintendent’s relation to the Church should be clearly de- 
fined and well understood. The Church is a unit with 
various activities. The Sunday School is one of those ac- 
tivities. It is not above the Church, but is a part of the 
Church and vital to its success. The pastor is pastor of the 
whole Church, including all of its activities. The Super- 
intendent’s relation to the Church should be one of friendly 
cooperation, with a full realization that his work represents 
only a part of the Church’s activities. 

The Church of the future is going to demand, and is 
already demanding, that the Pastor recognize the Sunday 
School at its full value. He should be specially trained for 
the work of religious education, including the history, de- 
velopment, and management of the Sunday School. This 
training he should secure at the same place and the same 
time he secures his other training for the ministry, namely, 
at the seminary. When the writer began his Sunday School 
work there were very few seminaries where the Sunday 
School and religious education formed any part of the cur- 
riculum except now and then a lecture on the pastoral work. 


Now it is a rare thing to find a seminary or even university 
218 


PASTOR AND SUPERINTENDENT 219 


that does not have a department on religious education, and 
this is wise. 

In those early days Dr. E. Y. Mullins, President of the 
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, published his creed 
on this subject, and we are glad to give it, as follows: 


“1. The supreme need in our country to-day is that the 
forces which make for character shall control the forces 
which make for intelligence. 

“2. One of the greatest forces which make for character 
is the Sunday School. 

“3. The factor of the Sunday School most potent in the 
development of character is the teacher. 

“4, The supreme lack in the present-day Sunday School 
is the lack of a sufficient number of thoroughly equipped 
teachers. 

“5. The chief teacher of the teachers and trainer of the 
trainers of the Sunday School is the pastor.” 


The Pastor must be big enough to recognize the Sunday 
School at its right valuation and to give it full time every 
week, to see that it is properly equipped, and that the teachers 
are properly trained. The Pastor is Commander-in-Chief ; 
the Superintendent is the Major-General. The Pastor has 
a great responsibility for the school. 

Dr, Pattison said: “The responsibility of the Pastor for 
the Sunday School isn’t optional; it is obligatory. Every 
department of work and worship has been committed to the 
minister, this amongst the rest.” 

Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull has likewise given us these 
words of wisdom: 


“The Sunday School of the Pastor’s Church is his Sunday 
School in the same sense that the pulpit of his Church is 
his pulpit. This being so, it follows that if a pastor is 
what he ought to be—or what he needs to be—in knowledge, 
in ability, in spirit and in purpose, his school will be what 


220 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


it ought to be in plan, in scope, in organization, and in 
methods of work. It will be all this before he is through 
with it, even if it isn’t all this when he takes hold of it.” 


Dr. William H. Hatcher, in his fine book on the Pastor 
and the Sunday School, has this to say on this subject: 


“On every point in the Sunday School the Pastor ought 
to be a master. So far as the school is a piece of machinery, 
he ought to know every wheel, pulley, and band. So far 
as the school is a business body, he ought to know its outer 
and inner life, its organization, its methods, and its financial 
management. So far as the school is an institution, he ought 
to know its history, its strength, its purposes and equipment. 
So far as it is an association, he ought to know its members, 
its spirit, its resources and its dangers. So far as it is a 
school, he ought to know its teaching force, its ever recurring 
wants and its sources of supply. In a word, the Pastor ought 
to know more about the school than any one else or all others 
put together.” 


The late Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall, who was President of 
the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, put it in 
this way: ‘If I had known in the beginning of my ministry 
what I know now about the Sunday School, I could have 
multiplied my usefulness fivefold.” 

Every Sunday School officer and teacher is, in a way, 
a pastor’s assistant, and there ought to be the closest coopera- 
tion and sympathy all along the line. ‘A hostile pastor 
means a dead school; an indifferent pastor means an inefii- 
cient school; an officious pastor means a chaotic school.” 
A codperating, sympathetic pastor always mean an efficient 
school. Many of our boys and girls are lost to us because 
the Pastor and Superintendent do not work together, because 
one or the other is lacking in vision as to the possibilities 
of the school. | 

The Pastor should present the claims of the school occa- 


PASTOR AND SUPERINTENDENT 221 


sionally to the Church at the morning Church service. One 
of the best subjects to speak upon, as a sort of text on such 
occasions, is the Parable of the Sower. Some seed fell by 
the wayside; some on stony ground; some among the thorns, 
but other seed fell on good ground and brought a good 
harvest. By no process of reasoning can the three kinds of 
unproductive soil be likened to the child heart. The child 
heart is not a wayside trodden down and hard; it is neither 
stony nor thorny. It is the good ground. 

Nothing is commanding the attention of ministers to-day 
more than the new challenge of religious education. A new 
chapter is being written in Church history, and its title is, 
“The Sunday School Acts of the Modern Apostles.” The 
Church has begun to realize that the Sunday School is a 
sleeping giant and only needs to be aroused, harnessed, and 
put to work, and it will accomplish more for the Church 
than has ever been dreamed of in the past. 

The Pastor should recognize that the Sunday School has 
just as much right and claim upon its full period of time as 
the Church service or any other service of the Church. 
Failure to do so and to recognize his own proper relationship 
to the Sunday School is fatal in its results, both to Church 
and school. 

The Superintendent likewise should be especially trained 
for his work, and he may be. He should come in touch 
with all available Sunday School agencies, attend Sunday 
School gatherings, training schools and the like, so far as 
possible, and read some of the best books on the subject. If 
he does not acquire a real Sunday School vision, he will 
never get very far. He should go to the school of prayer, 
preparation, perseverance, patience, and practice. He should 
keep his eyes and ears open, visiting other schools, having 
a good library of his own and a good worker’s library in his 
school. He should likewise see that his officers and teachers 
are trained, using some such book as the late Dr. Frank L. 
Brown’s book, “Sunpay Scuoot Orricers’ Manvat.” 


222 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Teachers likewise should be expected to take a course in 
teacher training. This is not impossible. 

The Superintendent should be elected by the Church and 
regarded as a Church officer. His methods must be correct, 
his aims high, and he should be absolutely loyal to the 
Church. There is no office in the entire Church that is 
fraught with greater responsibility or opportunity than 
that of the Sunday School Superintendent. He should be 
a Christian man, a Bible student, a good teacher, a fairly 
good platform man, a disciplinarian, a soul-winner and a 
friend. He should not only study himself but study others 
and study books. He should keep his eyes and ears open, 
attending Sunday School conventions, denominational and 
interdenominational, whenever it is possible. He should 
make his Sunday School, so far as it can be done, a feeder 
for the Church, for his school ought to fit into the Church 
plans heartily. 

Of course, he will know the duties of the other officers and 
help to train them for that purpose. A well-organized school 
will accomplish great results. The machinery of his school 
should be well oiled but out of sight, like the wheels of a 
clock. He should keep very close to his teachers, meeting 
them frequently in the workers’ council and in their course 
of teacher training. He is not supposed to be a Sunday 
School Solomon, but he ought to keep abreast of the times. 

The Superintendent should have a good head, two good 
eyes, two good ears, a tongue that knows how to keep silent, 
two feet, two hands, knees that bend, a broad back, a good 
liver, and a big heart. He should keep abreast of the edu- 
cational ideals of the day, so far as he can. His methods 
should be above reproach, broad, tactful, without claptrap 
or sensation. He should recognize his duties to the Church 
and his relation to the Pastor, also his duties to the school 
and to the home. 

He should have a voice in the appointment of all teachers, 
no matter in what department they are to serve, and cer- 


i 


PASTOR AND SUPERINTENDENT 223 


tainly he should be permitted to name his associate officers 
who are to stand by and help him carry out his plans. The 
highest ambition of a superintendent is to train others for 
Christian service. He is like a good doctor, in a way, 
because he will render his best service when he renders his 
service unnecessary by having trained others. 

He should endeavor to make his Sunday School efficient 
educationally, spiritually, and socially, avoiding high-pres- 
sure methods of growth and sensational methods of develop- 
ment. 

I cannot emphasize too strongly the proper relation that 
should exist between the Pastor and Superintendent. No 
two men in any Church can accomplish so much if they will 
pull together, nor can any two men in a Church muss things 
up worse when they get their horns locked. It has been 
my great joy to have the very closest fellowship with my 
Pastors. Almost every one of them realized that his place 
was in the Sunday School every Sunday, and usually with 
an important part in the program. The distance between 
the Sunday School and the Church is measured very largely 
by the Pastor’s attitude toward the school and the Super- 
intendent’s attitude toward the Church. If the Pastor is 
always present and in evidence every Sunday, the scholars 
soon come to learn that he is the Pastor of the school as 
well as the Church, for it is a part of the Church, and they 
are all the more ready to be sympathetic toward the Church 
than they would be otherwise. 

Likewise the Superintendent should aim, by every proper 
means, to have his school support the Church, standing by 
it in every way. He should urge the scholars to attend the 
Church services, just as the Pastor should urge the Church 
audiences to attend the Sunday School. No Church can 
hope to prosper that neglects its Sunday School. I owe 
more to my Pastors than to any other individuals in all 
my Sunday School work. In almost every case, they have 
been my choicest helpers, and the fellowship has been very 


224 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


sweet, not only on the Sabbath Day but during the week. 
The ministry of my Pastors when I have been in trouble, 
sorrow, and sickness, has always been choice and brotherly, 
and no Superintendent could be less than loyal under such 
circumstances. 

The Pastor and Superintendent as a united, harmoniously 
working force hold in their hands the destiny, humanly 
speaking, of both the Church and the Sunday School. 


XX 
SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 


“Efficiency” is a word to conjure with these days. More 
attention, perhaps, is paid to producing efficiency, particu- 
larly along industrial lines, than ever in the past. We are 
living in an age that is prodigal as to its wasting. And 
man, we are taught, is the most inefficient and wasteful of 
all creatures. Prof. Harrington Emerson says, in his ex- 
cellent book entitled “Erricrency’”’: “Inefficiency, princi- 
pally of administration, is alone responsible for the long 
bread-line of able-bodied men which continuously, for thirty 
years, has disgraced New York @ity.” 

“The actual and potential wastes in each year amount to 
as much as the total accumulations of wealth.” 

“Man wastes three-fourths of the coal in the ground, 
brings the remaining one-fourth to the surface by inefficient 
labor, and, it appears, doubles, trebles, or quadruples its cost 
in transportation charges to the furnace door. Rarely is 
as much as ten per cent. of the energy of coal transformed 
into electrical energy, and of this residuum only one- 
twentieth can appear as light.” 

He says that animals far outstrip human beings in the 
matter of efficiency. For example: “In production the firefly 
is about seven hundred and fifty times as efficient, in volume 
use ten times as economical, in time use twice as economical. 
The firefly is fifteen thousand times as efficient as his human 
rival.” 

Can the Sunday School claim to show any higher degree of 
efficiency than is here referred to? What is it that leads 
to efficiency? What are the essentials of efficiency? It is 
a certain, undefinable thing, apparently never put into words. 

225 


226 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


W. W. Woodbridge defines it as “That Something,” in his 
little book bearing that title, which is dedicated to the 
Rotary Clubs of the world, and published by the Smith- 
Kinney Company of Tacoma, Washington. It speaks of a 
discouraged, tired-out man, on a wet, nasty day, who was 
hungry and begging on the street. He stopped a man at the 
corner and asked him to give him something to eat. The 
man said to him, ‘‘Well, suppose you were fed—what then ?” 
The beggar replied, “I’d try to get a job somewhere.” 
“You'd try?” asked the man. “Yes, try,” replied the beg- 
gar, “although there is little chance. Nobody wants me 
now. I'd try, sir, but I do not care for that now. It’s 
food I want. I’m hungry. Can you help me?’ “No,” 
responded the man, with a tone of pity in his voice, “I 
cannot help you. Nobody can.” “But you could feed me,” 
said the beggar, with some petulance. “It is not food you 
need,” was the response. “What, then?’ the beggar asked. 
“That something,’ was the reply. Then he continued, say- 
ing, “Man, go find ‘that something’ and when you’ve found 
it come to me.” “Come to you for what?” said the beggar. 
“To thank me,” was his answer, and he went away. He 
had, however, left his card with the beggar. That conver- 
sation set the man to thinking why it was he had failed, 
and the outcome of the little booklet, which can be bought 
for twenty-five cents, is that the man finally found “that 
something” and made a man of himself. And, incidentally, 
it is a very choice little book for Sunday School teachers 
to read. | 

Efficiency is required in business, but in the Sunday 
School it is different. The wheels go round fast enough 
but we do not arrive. We are too much like the man on 
the bicycle in the show-window—his legs are going fast 
enough but he is not getting anywhere. The minutest 
thing is being watched nowadays in the industrial world, 
in order to produce the largest results with the smallest ex- 
penditure of time, money, and effort. We are even told 


SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 227 


that high-priced carpenters are sometimes forbidden to pick 
up nails they happen to drop because their time is worth 
more than the nail. Some cheap boy can pick up the nails, 
but not a high-priced carpenter; the same in regard to un- 
tying strings on packages—it is quicker to cut them. Of 
course the string is gone, but it takes time to untie them. 
J am not claiming that we should not untie our packages. 
Usually most of us have time enough, but I am speaking 
of the relative importance of these things and the necessity 
of putting one’s time to the best use in order to produce 
the largest results. 

The world is asking to-day what a man is really worth 
to himself, to his business, and to the world. There is a 
rather slanderous expression going about these days to the 
effect that the man from Boston is asked how much he knows, 
the man from New York how much he has, the man from 
Philadelphia what old family he came from, the man from 
Chicago what he can do. 

Business is looking after the man who can bring things 
to pass. I know a young man who, as a boy, took a clerk- 
ship in a great store at ten dollars a week; he told me so 
himself. In twenty-five years he was the manager of the 
store, drawing a salary larger than the President of the 
United States, at least larger than that salary was up to 
within a few years ago. 

Efficiency consists in avoiding lost energy, lost motion. 
The great railroad builder, J. J. Hill, confronted this con- 
dition in the railroad he built from the Middle West to the 
Pacific Coast. The Middle West was raising much grain, 
and his cars carried a vast amount of it to the Pacific Coast 
for export and local use, but the cars had been brought back 
empty. This was inefficiency; so he busied himself devel- 
oping the lumber trade of the West, so that the cars would 
bring lumber back and thus avoid the waste. 

. We are told that the by-products of the great packing con- 
cerns largely, if not wholly, cover the total cost of running 


228 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


the plants, so that it is possible to sell the material at a 
much lower price than otherwise would be required. Illus- 
trations without end could be given to show how careful 
business enterprises are to avoid waste and inefficiency. 

How is it with the Sunday School? Can a Sunday School 
be said to be efficient when it requires four officers and 
teachers a whole year to win one scholar to the Church? 
Yet that is the record we must face. Let us look at the 
Sunday School for a time, and see if we can find a way to 
overcome part of this inefficiency. 


I. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL EQUIPMENT 


The slaughterhouse and the bank building are not erected 
from the same blue-print. They are different. Each one is 
adapted to the use for which it is intended. It ought to 
be so with the Sunday School, but unfortunately this is not 
always the case. However, the Church is waking up. The 
Sunday School is a school, and more and more is coming 
to be so recognized. The building should be adapted to 
school purposes. It should be built from the inside out 
and not from the outside in. That is to say, it should be 
built with a view to the work that is to be done in the 
building, and not simply to gratify the pride of the Church 
and please the people who walk by on the street. This does 
not mean that a Church and Sunday School building should 
not be attractive and beautiful. It should be the most beau- 
tiful building in the city or town, but usefulness and effi- 
ciency should not be sacrificed for beauty and appearance. 
There never has been a time when so many fine, properly 
constructed Sunday School buildings were going up as now, 
and yet the large majority of our Sunday Schools are still 
meeting under great. disadvantage. 

It is not our purpose here to enter into the discussion 
of Sunday School buildings, except to say that the building ~ 
should provide for proper grading and classification; shouid | 


SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 229 


make it possible for classes to have separate rooms; and for 
the classes of any given department to have a small, con- 
venient assembly-room for their own use. More and more, 
the modern Sunday School buildings do not provide for a 
general assembly-room in addition to the auditorium of the 
Church, for the school as a whole will not be together oftener 
perhaps than four times a year, and these on special occa- 
sions, as for Easter, Christmas, Rally Day, ete. 

There should be as great care exercised in the adaptation 
of the building as is exercised in our finest and best public- 
school houses. The building should be conveniently arranged, 
not only for all the divisions in the school, but for all of 
the officers, so that they may do their work effectively and 
quickly. Also, convenience of ingress and egress should be 
looked after. The little children should not be made to climb 
long flights of stairs; neither should the very old people. 
If there are steps that must be climbed, let the strong, 
robust youth use that part of the building. In the equip- 
ment, too, we will consider the furnishings of these rooms 
as to comfortable seats, adapted to the size and age of the 
scholars, so that every scholar may be perfectly comfortable, 
which is impossible if the children must dangle their legs 
in the air. All of the modern equipment should be pro- 
vided, so far as possible, in furniture, maps, charts, black- 
boards, material for handwork, curios, etc., ete. Efficiency 
requires adequate, up-to-date, complete equipment. 


II, ORGANIZATION 


Organization is simply system, method, and economy in 
arrangement and in plans of work. Organization does things 
in the best way, setting apart given tasks for given people 
at given times. <A school that is thoroughly organized never 
steps on itself coming around the corner. Our good friend, 
Dr. A. H. McKinney of New York City, says, “A Sunday 
School that does the right thing at the right time, in the 


230 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


right way, by the right person will never have any ragged 
edges.” Organization gives a task for everybody to do and 
somebody specially designated for that task, a place for 
every worker and every worker in his place. 

Organization is a test of skill and avoids lost motion. 
Organization produces proper classification, grading, pro- 
motion, ete. There is an abundance of books on organiza- 
tion, and it is not our purpose to enlarge upon the subject 
here. However, we will speak of one feature of organiza- 
tion that seems just now to be the most important. 


III. GRADING 


A Sunday School may be said to be properly graded when 
the scholars are so classified in departments and classes that 
they are placed with those of about their own age, capacity, 
and ability, and under teachers and officers who are specially 
qualified to meet their needs. This principle is recognized 
in public instruction, and is now recognized in Sunday 
School work as it never has been in the past. 

The accepted method of grading at present divides the 
school into four grand divisions, as follows, based chiefly 
upon age: 

The Childen’s Division. 

2. The Young People’s Division. 

3. The Adult Division. 

4, The Administration Division, which is not based upon 
age. 

The first three divisions are composed of departments, as 
follows: 


Children’s Division 


Cradle Roll—Ages, birth to three years. 
Beginners—Ages, four and five. 
Primary—Ages, six, seven, and eight. 
Junior—Ages, nine, ten, and eleven. 


SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 231 
Young People’s Division 


Intermediate—Ages, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. 

Senior—<Ages, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. 

Young People—Ages, eighteen to tweuty-three (inclu- 
sive). ‘ 


The Adult Division 


is not definitely graded into departments as yet but should 
be. The departments recognized at present mostly are Bible 
classes, which ought to maintain separate class organization ; 
the Home Department; and Parent-training. 

Proper grading contemplates an officer or corps of officers 
whose entire business is to see that the grading is main- 
tained. Of course this involves regular promotions at reg- 
ular times, but a school, in order to be efficient, should be 
graded. 


Iv. CURRICULUM 


There are various courses of lessons now in use. Quite 
a number of them are produced by the International Lesson 
Commitee. They consist of: 

1. The International Uniform Lessons. (These are now 
being prepared especially for the grades above the Juniors. ) 

2. The International Group-Graded Lessons. 

3. The International Closely-Graded Lessons. 

Tn addition to these, the same Lesson Committee provides 
a number of special lessons, chiefly for the adult classes, each 
series running usually for three months. 

More and more, the schools are coming to adopt some 
form of graded lessons. The International Committee on 
Education and the International Lesson Committee are giv- 
ing large attention to the matter of lessons. Special lessons 
and courses of study are also provided for Daily Vacation 
Bible Schools and week-day schools of religion, which are 
coming more and more into use. 


232 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Vv. FINANCE 


The Sunday School should have a definite financial policy. 
The budget system is the best, ordinarily, with certain lim- 
itations and modifications that may be necessary from time | 
to time. ‘There should be a definite plan for the raising 
and expenditure of money, and this involves a Finance Com- 
mittee. 

The benevolences should be properly apportioned and 
representative in their nature. The definite, weekly pledge 
from every member of the school, unless it be the very 
small children, is exceedingly desirable, and the duplex en- 
velope is recommended. This involves a definite pledge and 
gift, not only for the regular work of the school, but like- 
wise for benevolences. The envelope affords a means of 
training the scholars in the grace of systematic giving, which 
is very essential. 

The support of the school by the Church is the ideal 
method, the Sunday School contributing definitely to the 
support of the general program of the Church. This sys- 
tem deserves to grow more rapidly in favor than it is grow- 
ing now, and it will grow in favor when the Church assumes 
a proper attitude towards the support of the school and sees 
to it that the school is properly and generously supported, 
which is not now the case in many Churches that are under- 
taking to support their schools. 

Everybody should know about the financial system: as 
to how the money is secured and how it is expended. All 
these matters should be made public, except the amount of 
the gift of the individual giver. 


VI. SERVICE 


Efficiency requires a definite, graded, educational program 
of social activities, a definite, graded program of benevolent 
contributions, and a definite, graded program of athletics 


SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 233 


and outdoor activities. The school should be built upon the 
fourfold-life plan, as indicated in the life of Jesus Himself, 
and referred to in Luke 2:52: “And Jesus increased in 
wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” 
This means the development of the physical, mental, social, 
and spiritual life. The definite, graded program of recrea- 
tion is absolutely essential to the best development of Sun- 
day School life, also the development of a community pro- 
gram in which all the Sunday Schools of the community 
cooperate. This forms the foundation for the community 
training school, which is very effective to-day, although it 
is not designed to take the place of the local training school 
wherever that is possible. 


VII. EVANGELISM 


This is the heart of the whole thing. There should be a 
definite, evangelistic program; that is to say, the training 
of the young people in the spiritual things of God by setting 
them to work according to their capacity and ability along 
those lines that help to build up the Church and the King- 
dom. 

The spiritual life of the Sunday School should be treated 
frequently from the pulpit of the Church, and there should 
be regular efforts, at proper times, along evangelistic lines. 
This means the observance occasionally of Decision Day, 
Forward Step Day, and particularly the vitalizing and spirit- 
ualizing of the regular services of the school. The atmos- 
phere of the regular Sunday School session ought to be con- 
ducive to spiritual results. 

All of these efforts should lead toward Church member- 
ship as a means of making the public confession of the 
Christian life. We do not emphasize Church membership 
sufficiently. Even many teachers claim that it is not par- 
ticularly important to join the Church, but the judgment 
of the writer is that we have border-line saints enough and 


234 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


that everybody should join the Church who is seeking honestly 
to serve God and live for Him. 


VIII. TRAINING FOR SERVICE 


Training is always necessary to efficiency. The officers 
themselves should be trained for their tasks, and the teachers 
likewise. Pupil-training should lead into the teacher-train- 
ing, and promising young men and women should be con- 
tinually sought out and aided, so far as possible, in deciding 
upon their life work in the Church and Sunday School, or 
in some form of Christian activity. It may be some will 
enter the ministry, others the missionary field, others sec- 
retaryships, etc. Decisions for the Christian life are usually 
made early, far more before fifteen years of age than later. 
When decisions for any line of service have once been made, 
then the Church and school should provide adequate means 
for training along these specific lines. 

The social service feature also should not be neglected. 
Churches, schools, and classes do not languish for something 
to hear. They languish for something worth while to do. 
The Church building should be a beehive of activity, all 
under wise direction. Any Sunday School, no matter what 
its equipment, if it has a proper vision of its responsibility 
and opportunity and effects its organization with this in 
view ; any Sunday School that has its scholars graded, so that 
the largest results may follow, through the teaching of a 
wisely selected course of study adapted to the capacity of 
the scholars; any Sunday School that has its money matters 
well in hand and managed in a way that will not only pro- 
duce the desired results but will honor God; any Sunday 
School that has a definite plan for all the members, that 
will give to each a task that is adapted to his liking and capa- 
bilities; any Sunday School that insists that everything it 
does shall be done in a proper manner and by those specially 
trained for the purpose, and continually keeps its eye open 


SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 235 


to supply the places of the workers who are dropping out; 
any Sunday School that seeks, first of all, to lead the 
scholars to the Lord Jesus Christ and to build them up into 
strong Christian characters, and then trains them for the 
work of life to which they have committed themselves; 
that Sunday School has already begun to be efficient, and 
nothing less than this is the highest type of Sunpay ScHoon 
EFFICIENCY. 


XXT 
SIX SUNDAY SCHOOL ESSENTIALS 


Some things must be that other things may be. 

The great English essayist—Macaulay—speaks of “divine 
discontent.” This is the soil in which improvements grow. 
Those who are content with present achievements will not 
be likely to exert themselves either to formulate or reach 
higher ideals. We are sure, however, that the readers of 
this chapter are ambitious for the best, and it is for their 
benefit that we venture to suggest a few of the things that 
must be in order that their ideals may be realized. 


I. CONCEPTION 


All Sunday School workers need to stop occasionally in 
their busy lives to reévaluate the Sunday School. A proper 
conception of the Sunday School and a vision of its possi- 
bilities is greatly needed in our Churches to-day. This is 
even more true of those members of our Churches who are 
not at present affiliated with the school. We need to re 
member that the Sunday School is the whitest part of the 
Church’s great white field; that far more additions to the 
Churches by conversion come through the Sunday School 
than through all other channels combined. This is because 
the Sunday School has the unsaved in larger numbers than 
any other service of the Church, and has them at the 
right time; namely, in their youth. It has the workers who 
are ready to do the work, the organization through which 
to do it, the equipment necessary, and the unfailing weapon, 
which is the Word of God. 

The Sunday School is a sleeping giant, lying at the thresh- 

236 


SIX SUNDAY SCHOOL ESSENTIALS ~— 287 


old of the Church. If aroused, harnessed and trained, he 
will fill the Church with people, provide the money for all 
their needs and set the people to work. The Sunday School 
is the Church’s power-house; it is a drill-ground, a labora- 
tory, an armory and a great dynamic. It is the largest army 
in the world that marches under the Christian banner; its 
volunteer workers, numbering millions, constitute its chief 
genius. 

Its convention system, calling probably four millions of 
workers together annually in fifteen thousand conventions 
in North America alone, is an indication of its far-reaching 
power. ‘The Sunday School is a builder of Churches, a 
builder of nations, the defender of the Bible, and the under- 
girder of all good work. It is the best organized department 
of the Church, and pays the largest dividends. It is the 
golden gate into the Church’s promised land. 

In Proverbs 29:18, we read: “Where there is no vision, 
the people perish.” This is literally true of the Church 
that does not have an adequate appreciation of its Sunday 
School. Sunday Schools are known by the Churches they 
build, and Churches are known by the Sunday Schools they 
maintain. The Sunday School, though yet in its infancy, 
is the dean of the faculty among religious agencies, and 
when the Churches generally come to a full realization of 
this fact they will grow both in numbers and efficiency as 
they have never grown before. 


II. COOPERATION 


Codperation, and not competition, is now the law of the 
business world, and must become the law of the Christian 
world. The armies of darkness will never be put to rout 
by a divided Church. As long as men and women think, 
there will be different views concerning the teachings of 
the Word of God, and yet the various divisions of the Prot- 
estant Church hold enough of the vital truth in common to 


238 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


form a working basis for a united program. Nothing short 
of such a program will bring this sin-sick world to its senses. 
The building up of the various denominations should not 
be wholly for their own aggrandizement, but that they may 
be more eflicient as individual units in the great army of 
God’s people, working together for the saving of the world. 

However, our specific purpose at this moment is to speak 
of codperation in the local Church. This is one of the great- 
est needs of our day. If all the members of any particular 
Church who can attend the Sunday School as pupils, if not 
needed as teachers and officers, would attend and participate 
heartily, it would do more to advance the coming of the 
Kingdom than anything else that could happen. Any man 
who is a member of a Church, who can work and won’t 
work, is no better than a dead man, and he takes more room. 
This is the day of team-work, and the entire Church should 
be committed, not only in sentiment, but in cooperation, to 
that Church’s program of religious education. There is al- 
ways the need of teachers and workers, not only in the school 
on Sunday, but in the schools of week-day religion, Daily 
Vacation Bible Schools, community training schools, and the 
like. 

We plead for the fullest codperation with the Sunday 
School officers and teachers, on the part of the rank and 
file of the membership of the Church. All honor to those 
faithful workers who stand by the Sunday School from one 
year’s end to another, while others just as competent, and 
who could help if they would, are content to “let George 
do it.”” The Bible School in any Church will never function 
as it should until the Church, as such, throughout its entire 
membership, heartily codperates. 


III. CONQUEST 


Dr. Dawson, in his remarkable book entitled, “A Prorwat 
in Banyton,” says: “Churches, like armies, live by con- 


SIX SUNDAY SCHOOL ESSENTIALS ~— 239 


quest. When conquest ceases, mutiny begins.” This is as 
true of Churches as of armies. Those in responsibility 
should, at the beginning of the year or before, lay out a 
definite program of conquest. This conquest should not be 
one-sided, but should include all of the essential features 
of Sunday School growth and efficiency. 

There should be a conquest for numbers. There is no 
warrant for simply opening the Church doors and expecting 
the people to come. The command of the Master is to go 
out and bring them in. This does not mean the adoption 
of high-pressure, feverish methods, but that best of all 
methods—personal solicitation because of personal interest 
and a love for the work. 

There should also be a definite program looking toward 
evangelism and leading the scholars into membership in the 
Church. 

This conquest should apply also to the religious-education 
program, which should be carried to every boy and girl 
within reach of the school. It should include not only the 
Sunday School on Sunday, but through-the-week activities 
along the lines of religious education. 

The finances of the school should likewise receive atten- 
tion. Boys and girls trained to give in the Sunday School 
will support the Church and missions when they become 
older. Have a definite financial plan covering the entire 
year; secure the regular offerings systematically from every 
member of the school, and recognize in the benevolences 
those agencies for which the Church is responsible. 

Haphazard methods never arrive anywhere. Plan your 
work, then work your plan. Churches and Sunday Schools 
that are not thoroughly occupied in something worthy of 
this kind are apt to fall into bickerings and disputes and 
lose their usefulness. I never saw a Church yet that was 
engaged in a thoroughly Christian, aggressive program and 
at the same time engaged in a Church fuss. Nor did I ever 
see a Church that was split and divided and fussing that 


240 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


was winning souls for God. A horse cannot kick and pull 
at the same time; neither can a Church. The conquest pro- 
gram of the Church should be accompanied with great faith 
and confidence and cheerfulness, also with a shout of vic- 
tory. 


IV. COMPETENCE 


The world always waits for the man who knows how, 
no matter along what line it may be. Emerson said: “If a 
man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or 
make a better mousetrap than anybody else, the world will 
make a beaten path to his door, though he live in the midst 
of a forest.” (This quotation may not be literally correct 
in words, but it is in substance. ) 

One of the things that must be, in order that the Sunday 
School may properly and permanently function, is a trained 
leadership. ‘The officers and teachers should all take special 
training for their work. Dr. Frank L. Brown’s admirable 
book, entitled, ““Orricer Trarnina,” is well adapted for the 
officers of the school. This same Dr. Brown, who was for- 
merly secretary of the World’s Sunday School Association, 
founder and superintendent of the Bushwick Avenue Meth- 
odist Sunday School of Brooklyn, has often said in my 
hearing that for the past twenty-five years they have never 
had a class in that great school of over three thousand but 
that they had a teacher who had been trained in one of their 
own training classes ready to take the class. When we con- 
sider that it requires 150 teachers in this school, such a 
record is truly remarkable. They solved the problem by 
having one or two or three teacher-training classes in opera- 
tion every year from October to May. It can be done. 

The teacher-training class should have been started in Oc- 
tober, but, if not started yet, it is not too late. Continu- 
ous training of advanced pupils for this purpose will solve 
the teacher problem. ‘There is no more important officer 


SIX SUNDAY SCHOOL ESSENTIALS 241 


in the Church than the director of religious education, and 
one of his chief tasks is to provide for the training of the 
teachers that are to be. 

There should also be picked young people in constant 
training for all the offices in the school. It is well to have 
understudies for your secretary, treasurer, assistant super- 
intendents, and all officials, even though they may not be 
required to do the work Sunday by Sunday; they will be 
needed sooner or later. The Sunday School with a trained 
leadership in all of its divisions and departments, and that 
is looking toward the future in this matter, will not be dis- 
rupted by the occasional removals of those in responsible 
positions. 


VY. CONSTANCY 


There is no virtue so valuable in a Sunday School worker, 
and particularly in a teacher, as faithfulness, dependable- 
ness, reliability. ‘The teacher who really counts is the one 
who is always present, regardless of the weather, unless 
some reason entirely beyond his control keeps him away. In 
real value to the school, he far surpasses those who may 
be much more efficient and brilliant, but upon whom you 
never can depend. 


“The lightning-bug is brilliant, 
But he hasn’t any mind. 
He stumbles through existence 


With his headlight on behind.” 


‘All honor to those Sunday School soldiers who can march 
when the flags are not flying and when the bands are not 
playing; who stick to their task through thick and thin, 
and never give up. Far too many of our Sunday School 
workers seem to have adopted for their particular Scripture 
passage, ““He maketh me to lie down.” Christian work ig 
not done by spurts. Much enthusiasm is frequently engen- 


242 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


dered by revivals, and I believe in revivals, but it oftentimes 
happens that the enthusiasm is short-lived. In almost every 
revival you will find those whom you cannot keep down, 
and after the revival is over you cannot get them up. 

Tt is well, in laying out the program for the new year, to 
stress the importance of regularity of attendance and to rec- 
ognize the faithful when the year is done. 


VI. CONSECRATION 


Devotion to the work or consecration to the task is, after 
all, the key to success. This, of course, refers to the indi- 
vidual. The Sunday School workers, however, that can 
qualify under the five preceding points—namely, “Appre- 
ciation,”’ Codperation,” “Conquest,” “Training,” and “Stick- 
to-it-iveness’’—will be the first to consecrate their lives more 
thoroughly than ever to the task they have in hand. Love 
for God, love for souls and love for God’s Word and work 
point the way to joyful service. 

The teachers should be called together frequently, at least 
in their monthly workers’ councils, and brought face to face — 
with their individual responsibility as workers for God. 
Love and devotion and consecration can keep up the steam 
and can keep up the work at white heat. God cannot use 
a selfish person in his vineyard. There must be the wide- 
ness of soul and the depth of purpose that are willing to 
sacrifice and to go anywhere at any time, if possible, to 
reach the wandering boy or girl who may be trying to pull 
away. 

The work of the Sunday School teacher is the greatest 
work on earth for the rank-and-file Christian worker. 

No life is ever full without the loving touch. A beautiful 
story is told of a boy in Labrador suddenly made blind 
by an accident and brought to one of Dr. Grenfell’s hos- 
pitals by his sister, who was somewhat older than himself. 
The poor blind boy would sit upon the edge of his bed for 


SIX SUNDAY SCHOOL ESSENTIALS ~~ 243 


hours, holding out his hands. When asked why he did it, 
his sister would reply: “He wants somebody to take hold 
of them.” The power of human sympathy, the touch of a 
loving hand, the encouragement of a cheery word, these are 
all essential to the teacher who would succeed. 

And then comes joy. The greatest thing in the world is 
life; the greatest thing in life is love; the greatest thing 
in love is joy; the greatest joy is the joy of the Lord. 


XXII 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AS AN INVESTMENT 


“Will it pay?’ This is the question one always hears 
when facing a new enterprise. It is a proper question, too, 
for after all the final test in every kind of work or business, 
whether it has to do with religion or the affairs of the world, 
is just that question, ‘Will it pay?’ People are not keen 
to invest their time, their money, or their lives in any enter- 
prise that does not promise adequate results. We are living 
in a commercial age, and the test applied in commercial life 
is likewise to be applied in religious life, but not for the 
same purpose. 

The dividends of Christian service are not indicated by 
figures on a ledger. They are not easily tabulated but they 
are genuine none the less. The question the world is asking 
to-day about the Church is this very question, “Does it pay ?” 
The Church cannot escape this test. Unless the profit that 
accrues to the Church itself, to the neighborhood in which 
it is located, to the town or city, or state, or world, is 
commensurate with the effort put forth, people will not easily 
enthuse over it. 

Just now we are talking about the Sunday School, which 
is the Church engaged in its teaching service. We need to 
remember that the Church is not only a field but a force. 

We have come likewise to realize that no Church can 
hope for permanent success and adequate growth that does 
not give prime attention to religious education or to the 
Sunday School, as that term is more familiar. The Sunday 
School came into existence with kicks and cuffs. Nobody 
wanted the child. Out of many a Church it has been driven 


with angry words and even with a cane, but to-day condi- 
244 


SUNDAY SCHOOL AS AN INVESTMENT 245 


tions are different. The Sunday School has won a place 
in the heart of the Church, and we understand it better than 
in the early days and appreciate its value as we did not 
then. 

Perhaps the following illustration will explain this: The 
fishworm boring in the mud underneath the stream of water 
may come upon the root of a lily plant. If this fishworm 
could think and know and speak he might properly say, 
“T have found a lily.” 

The fish, swimming about in the water above the mud, 
may come upon the stalk of this same lily plant. If this 
fish likewise could think and know and speak, he, too, might 
say, “I have found a lily,’”’ but the fisherman, seated in his 
boat upon the surface of the stream and spying the beautiful 
flower of this same lily, set like a pearl in emerald, and 
paddling up to the lily, would take it in his hand and look 
down into its golden heart, and he, too, would say, “I have 
found a lily.”” Which one, however, of the three—the fish- 
worm, the fish, or the fisherman—has the best idea of the 
lily? Evidently the one who has seen the full-blown flower. 

We would not intimate that the days of Robert Raikes 
were all root without stalk or flower, nor those intervening 
days between then and now all stalk without flower or fruit- 
age, nor that even in this favored day of Sunday School 
work with which we are familiar we have simply the flower . 
without the root or stalk, but, figuratively, the illustration 
is correct. While there has been fruitage from the very 
beginning, and the beautiful flower as well, we see the re- 
sults to-day as we have never seen them before. It has taken 
nearly one hundred and fifty years for the perfection of 
the flower to the degree of beauty that it shows forth to-day. 
All that has gone before has been necessary, and we are be- 
ginning now as never in the past to reap the benefits. 

This is what it takes to make a good investment, the ex- 
penditure of time, talent, toil, money, and men in such a 
way as to produce satisfactory results along desired lines. 


' 246 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


The profit in any investment must come to the owner. As 
the Church is the owner of the Sunday School, and exists 
for the purpose of propagating the Christian religion, the 
Church and the Cause of Christ must draw the dividends 
and reap the profit. 

If the Sunday School helps the Church, it is a paying 
investment. I desire to call the attention of our readers to 
five kinds of dividends the Church draws from the school, 
or, to put it in another way, five ways in which the Sunday 
School really pays as an investment. 


1. The Sunday School Pays Socially 


This, we admit, is putting it on the lower level, but never- 
theless sociability of the right kind is profitable. The Sun- 
day School brings people together. It is a long ery from 
that little handful of boys that Robert Raikes gathered in 
old Gloucester in the kitchen of a story-and-a-half house in 
Catherine Street to the thirty millions and more enrolled 
in the Sunday Schools of the world to-day. 

The Sunday School army is the largest Christian army 
in the world that marshals under a single banner. To very 
many it is the best and oftentimes the only side of social 
life available to the young. This is especially true in village 
and country. In our day social life is running at full tide. 
It finds its expression in organizations of every character. 
It seems as though there were more clubs in the world to-day 
than there are people to swing them, but the Sunday School 
is a club in its best sense, with all bad influences eliminated. 
It cultivates the social life under high standards and proper 
conditions. The social gatherings of the Church, through 
class organizations, departments, divisions, etc., bring thou- 
sands and hundreds of thousands of people together every 
week. During the “Men and Religion” campaign the social 
side of Church life was emphasized, but it was discovered 

that there was not a single club of any kind recommended 


ee ee 


SUNDAY SCHOOL AS AN INVESTMENT 247 


by the workers engaged in the “Men and Religion” campaign 
that was not already in existence in some Sunday School 
within the field. 

Clubs for music, athletics, art, reading, painting, hunt- 
ing, fishing, tramping, kodaking, ete., ete.—they are all to 
be found to-day in the Sunday School organizations some- 
where. In the matter of athletics, it may not be commonly 
known that the largest baseball league in the world is a 
Sunday School league located in the city of Chicago. There 
have been at one time one hundred and ten baseball clubs 
identified with this league. Every member of every elub 
must be vouched for by both pastor and superintendent, as 
a member in regular attendance upon the Sunday School. 
No one is accepted for any position whatever unless he can 
thus qualify. Should any member of any of these clubs play 
a game of baseball on Sunday or use bad language on the 
playground he is immediately dropped from the club. This 
is Sunday School athletics at its best. 

The Sunday School brings not only the members of the 
school together but it brings Churches together in its social 
activities and in its conventions. Indeed, it brings denom- 
inations together and it brings nations together. Having 
attended great conventions in every part of the North Amer- 
ican Continent and in many parts of the world, I can speak 
with some familiarity on this subject. Under Sunday School 
auspices on our North American Continent more than fifteen 
thousand conventions are held annually, attended by approx- 
imately four millions of people every year. 

The social life of a Church is as valuable, in its way, as 
any other department of its activity. Under what better 
circumstances could young men and young women form 
their acquaintances and fellowships and select their life 
mates for the planting of new homes than under the benign 
influence of the Church? And this is what the Sunday 
School does. There is no other social institution on earth 
so influential as the Sunday School. 


248 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 
2. The Sunday School Pays Civicly 


It stands for good citizenship. It teaches obedience to 
the laws of the country. The president of a great university 
said recently that the Sunday School teachers were the 
makers of America, and, indeed, this is true. The Sunday 
School is the best factor for good citizenship there is in 
existence, next to the home. Our first President, George 
Washington, said, “The perpetuity of this nation depends 
upon the religious training of the young.” Thomas Jeffer- 
son said, “This country will be saved, if saved at all, by 
the training of the children to love the Saviour, and the 
Sunday Schools will play a most important part in that 
training.” The Honorable John W. Foster, when Secretary 
of State, said, in a public address, “I challenge you to men- 
tion any other work of equal importance to this nation with 
the work of the Sunday School teacher.” Laveleye, after a 
visit to this country, wrote a book in which he said, among 
many other good things, “The Sunday Schools of the United 
States form the strongest foundation of its public institu- 
tions.” Dr. John W. Watson, better known by the name 
of “Ian Maclaren,” said to one of our newspaper men, “The 
greatest agency for good, as I see it in your country, is the 
Sunday School.” 

The Sunday School is better than a standing army. It 
is the only school attended by millions where the Bible is 
the text-book, and the Bible is the basis of all right law. 
The school magnifies the Bible. It has popularized the 
Bible. It is well to bear in mind that there were no English 
Bibles in print when Columbus discovered America. 


“A lady with a lamp shall stand 
In every city of the land.” 


This lady is the Church of God, and the lamp is the Word 
of God. 


SUNDAY SCHOOL AS AN INVESTMENT 249 


“We search the world for truth, 
We cull the good, the pure, the beautiful 
From graven stone and written scroll, 
And all the flower fields of the soul; 
And weary seekers of the best, 
We come back laden from our quest, 
To find that all the sages said 
Ts in the Book that Mother read.” 


The Sunday School has done and is doing more to per- 
petuate the Christian institutions of our country than any 
other agency save the Christian home. 


3. The Sunday School Pays Financially 


It pays the Church financially. It puts dollars into the 
Church treasury for dimes that it costs. It trains our young 
people in the art of giving, and this is a lost art with many. 
Givers trained through the Sunday School will solve the 
Church’s financial problems. It is the custom in our Sunday 
Schools to teach systematic, generous, and proportionate giv- 
ing. Scholars raised up in this way to give become the 
supporters of the Church in later years. It is said that 
the average criminal case in the United States costs enough 
money to maintain a Sunday School of one hundred members 
for ten years. I have no doubt this statement is correct. 
It is also stated that it cost the United States Government 
enough money in its campaign in Mexico for the capture 
of Villa to build a Church, a hospital, and a school in every 
one of the twenty-seven states in Mexico and maintain them 
for ten years, and then they did not catch Villa. If the 
Sunday School had been maintained in Mexico during the 
fifty years preceding, there might have been no need of such 
a campaign. 

Three out of four, and in many cases four out of five, 
of the Church’s accessions come through the Sunday School. 
If we train them to give (and we are training them to give), 


250 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


we shall have giving Churches, which means better support 
for the Churches themselves, also for missionary boards and 
all benevolences. Think of what it meant to the Churches 
of America financially alone to save Stephen Paxson, who 
was saved through the Sunday School. He founded over 
thirteen hundred Sunday Schools before he died. Hundreds 
‘of them developed into Churches. Who can compute the 
benefit to the Church even financially, if in no other way, 
of such men as Moody, Reynolds, J acobs, Vincent, and thou- 
sands of others who have devoted their lives to the Sunday 
School? And yet in too many eases the Churches starve 
their Sunday Schools to death for lack of adequate support. 

The Sunday School does pay financially. Look at the 
millions and millions of lesson helps and other Sunday 
School literature and material prepared by the denomina- — 
tional and independent publishing houses. I have been told 
by some of those connected with these institutions that a 
good many of their great buildings have been made possible 
by the profits on Sunday School lesson helps alone. The 
Sunday School does pay financially, and it pays large divi- 
dends. 


4. The Sunday School Pays Educationally 


I am aware that it is quite the fad, in some localities, 
for high-grade educators to “knock” the Sunday School right 
and left and call it a failure because it does not have high 
educational ideals. This criticism has had much ground 
for justification, and yet the Sunday School will stand the 
test after all. Everybody who knows anything about Sun- 
day School work knows the low educational standards that 
have prevailed in many localities, but there is much rejoicing 
these days because of the great improvement along this line. 

We must not forget the debt the world owes to the Sunday 
School even educationally. Readers will remember the quo- 
_tation in Chapter II from Green’s “Hisrory or tux Eng- 


SUNDAY SCHOOL AS AN INVESTMENT 251 


nish Propin”’: “The Sunday Schools established by Mr. 
Raikes, of Gloucester, at the end of the century, were the 
beginnings of popular education.” It is not wholly out of 
place to say that the great free-school system of our own 
America was patterned, in the first place, after the free- 
school system of England, and if that is true it may be said 
likewise that our own free-school system, which is the pride 
of our country, is the direct outgrowth of Robert Raikes’s 
Sunday Schools. 

It is not at all uncommon, however, on Sunday School 
platforms, to hear all kinds of bad things said about the 
Sunday School as an educational agency. All too often, 
many of these statements are justifiable. On the other hand, 
- it is my firm belief that it is quite impossible for the 
Churches of North America to produce and set to work 
another million-and-a-half of Sunday teachers who are as 
faithful, consecrated, and efficient as those who are now 
teaching Sunday School classes. It is a great deal better 
to be down in the field and busily at work than it is to sit 
upon the fence and find fault with those who are doing the 
work which we ourselves are neglecting. 

In some of our newspapers likewise we find flings at the 
Sunday School, and it has been called a failure, the state- 
ment many times being based upon single cases of ignorance. 
As an illustration of this, I read in a paper some time ago 
this statement. A well-known primary teacher asked the 
scholars who the greatest character in the Bible was. One 
little lad enlightened the company by stating that it was 
Admiral Dewey. The paper which presented this story set 
this forth as an illustration of the failure of the Sunday 
School. Of course it was a failure in that instance and with 
that particular boy. I endeavored to answer that article for 
publication in that paper, and had great difficulty in getting 
my article printed at all. I stated that it was not fair to 
judge of an institution by single cases of ignorance. 

The public school could be condemned and likewise made 


252 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


a laughingstock in the same way. Dr. Schauffler used to tell 
of an examination in a public school in New York City with 
which he was familiar. A question was asked calling for 
the main parts of the human body. A scholar replied that 
the human body was composed of three parts: the head, 
which contains the brains—if any; the chest, which contains 
the lungs and the liver; the stomach, which contains the 
vowels, which are “a,” “e,” “i,” “o,” “u,” and sometimes 
6677? and a 

I stated in my newspaper article that if readers would 
look in their editorial columns of that very same issue, in 
an article presumably written by the editor himself, they 
would find this statement: “Some wise guy has said no 
prophet is without honor save in his own country.” I told 
them that if they would consult their Bible and note Mat- 
thew 13:57, they would discover that these words were 
spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself, and they might pos- 
sibly become convinced that all the ignorance of the Bible 
was not confined to the primary class of the Sunday School! 

It is impossible to estimate the value and the power of 
Sunday School teachings. The millions and millions of les- 
son helps prepared by the very finest and best educated 
minds of this country; the papers, the libraries, training 
books, conventions, institutes, summer schools, and camps, 
all of these have high educational qualities. 

The Sunday School pays educationally. 


5. The Sunday School Pays Spiritually 


This is the best of all. We remember that from eighty to 
eighty-five per cent. of all of the additions to the Churches 
of America by confession of faith in Jesus Christ come 
through the Sunday School. This is no disparagement of 
the preaching service whatever, for many and possibly most 
of these children have made the decision under the preach- 


SUNDAY SCHOOL AS AN INVESTMENT 253 


ing of the pastor, but the Sunday School has prepared the 
way. Dr. John Clifford of England says that five-sixths 
of all of the additions to the Church in England come from 
the Sunday School. Indeed, the Church owes its very life 
to the Sunday School, so far as membership is concerned. 
One of the leading Sunday School representatives of a large 
denomination said, in my hearing, several years ago, “If it 
had not been for the additions to our Churches through 
our Sunday Schools during the past four years we would 
have shown a very heavy loss, and if those conditions were 
to continue for twenty-five years, without any additions from 
our Sunday Schools, our great Church would go out of 
existence.” 

We have frequently quoted here the statement that eighty- 
five Churches out of every hundred in America were first 
Sunday Schools before they were Churches. The Sunday 
School is a proper seed, and if planted in the right place 
and eared for as it should be will develop into a Church 
by and by. The records show that ninety-five per cent. of 
the ministers of the Protestant Churches of America came 
from the Sunday Schools. 

Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull, in one of his books, gives this 
significant sentence: “The world has been saved to the 
Church and to Bible study by the Sunday School.” Because 
boys and girls go to Sunday School to-day, men and women 
will go to Church to-morrow. Dr. Jesse L. Hurlbut was 
fond of saying, in one of his addresses, that the reasons for 
the great power of the Sunday School spiritually are as 
follows: 

1. It has the unsaved in larger numbers than any other 
service of the Church. 

2. It has them at the best time of their life, while they 
are young and impressionable. 

3. It has the equipment with which to do the work. 

4, It has the organization, the plan, the method. 


254 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


5. It has the workers. 

6. It has the weapon, the sword of the Spirit, the Word 
of God. 

Consequently it gets the results. The Sunday School is 
the very center of the firing-line. The late Dr. James L. 
Phillips, formerly Secretary of the Sunday School Union 
of India, said that the Sunday School is the underminer 
of paganism. It is the easiest, cheapest, and best way to 
spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We have come to learn that a child is worth more to the 
Kingdom of God than a man or a woman because there is 
more of life to give. Childhood is the key to the future 
of this world spiritually. The most profitable organization 
on earth for building up the Kingdom of God is the Sunday 
School. There is an old proverb, dating back many years, 
which says, “The world exists only by the breath from the 
school children,” and surely the same thing may be said 
of the Church. It exists to-day because of the great work 
that is being done through the educational agency of the 
Church, commonly known as the Sunday School. 

From every standpoint the Sunday School is the most 
profitable agency and activity of the Church, and it deserves 
a great deal more support and codperation than it receives. 

The Sunday School is a paying investment from every 
standpownt. 


XXITTL 
SUNDAY SCHOOL BEATITUDES 


1. Blessed is the Church that believes in the Sunday 
School, for it will compel the Sunday School to believe in 
atself. 

Stand at the Church door some morning at the opening 
or closing of the preaching service, and notice the large 
number of men and women who pass in or out either to at- 
- tend the preaching service or to return home from the 
preaching service. If the Sunday School is held just before 
the preaching service, it means that this great army has 
not attended the Sunday School. If the Sunday School fol- 
lows the preaching service, it means that these large numbers, 
composing always a vast majority of those in attendance, are 
going home without remaining for the Sunday School. 
What is the matter with the Church where these things 
happen? Simply this: That Church does not believe in the 
Sunday School. Altogether too many Christian people look 
upon the Sunday School as a child’s affair purely; a good 
place for others to be, no doubt, but not for them. 

What is the crying need in our Sunday Schools to-day? 
Ask any superintendent. He will tell you it is the need 
of thoroughly qualified, equipped and trained teachers, and 
yet, in practically every Church of any size there are plenty 
of college and high-school-trained men and women who could 
easily qualify as Sunday School teachers if they would, while 
the school languishes and hundreds of schools die for lack 
of teachers. When in a typical American city of fifty thou- 
sand, according to a survey made by the Interchurch World 
Movement, the annual per capita contributions of the Church 


people were as follows: For local Church support, $24.84; 
255 


256 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


for missionary work, $4.00; for music, $1.48; for the jani- 
tor, $1.07; for the Sunday School, 46 cents—there is but 
one conclusion at which to arrive; namely, that in the esti- 
mation of the Church the Sunday School is not worth sup- 
porting. In other words, the Church members think it is 
twice as important to pay the janitor as it is to provide 
religious education for their children. 

2. Blessed rs the Sunday School that knows why it exists, 
for tt can hold its head up and look everybody in the eye. 

There are thousands of Churches, and many more thou- 
sands of Church members, who would not pass a satisfactory 
examination if asked plainly the question: ‘““Why the Sunday 
School?’ One of the most difficult tasks the Church con- 
fronts to-day, and likewise, one of the most important, is 
to grasp the real genius of the Sunday School. Our Mas- 
ter’s final injunction to the Church as embodied in the great 
commission—‘‘Go, teach’’—is surely a sufficient charter for 
the Sunday School. It should have as definite a place in re- 
ligious education as the public school has in secular educa- 
tion, for teaching, whether secular or religious, is the finest 
of the fine arts. 

3. Blessed 1s the Sunday School that ts properly organ- 
wed for its work, for it knows where tt is going, and will 
know when it gets there. 

Organization means economy and efficiency. Organiza- 
tion accomplishes the best results in the quickest, cheapest, 
and most effective way. A Sunday School that is properly 
organized knows exactly how many members there are, where 
they are located, why they are located as they are, when 
and why the pupils are to be promoted to the next depart- 
ment; has a definite program for every line of activity, 
knows where its money comes from and where it is going 
and why, and has somebody thoroughly qualified in charge 
of every department. The proper officers can tell, at a 
glance, by consulting the proper records, what departments 
and classes are gaining or losing, and they will look after 


SUNDAY SCHOOL BEATITUDES 257 


all the details of the organization as carefully as if it were 
a business for financial profit. No Sunday School can lay 
claim to efficiency that is not at least seeking to be thus 
organized. 

4, Blessed is the Sunday School that is managed like a 
bank, for wt will have no ragged edges and will command 
respect. 

This means that there is a time for everything, and that 
everything is done on time; a place for everything, and 
everything is in its place. The shilly-shally, haphazard 
method of conducting the average Sunday School is one 
of the reasons why business men are not found there in 
large numbers. The school that begins about 9:30, or any 
other hour, or when the organist comes, will never hold 
people who do their own thinking. The properly managed 
Sunday School will begin exactly on the minute it is ad- 
vertised to begin if there is nobody present but the janitor. 
The Sunday School that does the right thing in the right 
way at the right time by the right person will have no ragged 
edges. 

5. Blessed is the Sunday School that is in right relation- 
ship to the Church with which it is connected, for there will 
be no gravel in the wheels. 

A pastor who habitually ran his Church service overtime, 
frequently requiring the Sunday School, which followed, to 
begin fifteen minutes to half an hour late, said, when remon- 
strated with by an officer of the Church, who also taught 
in the school: “I am not preaching against time; I am 
preaching against sin.” He should have preached those 
sermons looking in the looking-glass, for he himself was the 
sinner. There are others! No superintendent of a school 
that meets before the Church service has any right to run 
his school beyond the closing hour, and thus interfere with 
the opening of the Church services; nor has a pastor any 
right to run his preaching service into the Sunday School 
hour, particularly so when both services must use the same 


258 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


room in whole or in part. The time for opening and closing 
each of these services should be strictly adhered to. It is as 
wrong to steal another’s time as his money, and more so, 
for stolen money may be restored; stolen time, never. 


When the Church comes to realize that the Sunday School 


is the whitest part of its field, and that, as a rule, three 
members come from the Sunday School into the Church 
for every one that comes from all other sources combined, 
it will take the Sunday School more seriously and deal 
with it more sympathetically. The pastor and the Sunday 
School superintendent should work well in harness together. 
No two men can accomplish so much, if they are in deep 


sympathy with one another, and no two men can muss things ~ 


up so easily when they are not. The superintendent should 
always be present at the preaching services of the Church, 
and the pastor should always be present at the Sunday 
School. The superintendent should take the same interest 
in the Church as he would like the pastor to take in the 
school. The pastor who habitually absents himself from 


the Sunday School widens the breach thereby between the — 


Sunday School and the Church and makes it more difficult 
to win the scholars to Church membership. This subject 
was dealt with more fully in Chapter XTX. 

Many Churches seem to begrudge the Sunday School, not 
only the necessary money, but also the time it needs. Good 
Churches build good Sunday Schools, and good Sunday 
Schools build good Churches. 

6. Blessed is the Sunday School that recognizes the place 


of helpful worship, for deep breathing of devotional atmos- — 


phere gives porse to the heart. 

The day of “opening exercises” is rapidly passing, and 
it is well. The day of clap-trap, hip-hurrah! and boister- 
ous methods in conducting the Sunday School is waning! 
Those methods breed disorder. A worshipful atmosphere 


cultivates quietness and thoughtfulness. There should be © 


a reason for the singing of every hymn. That reason should 


| 


q 


SUNDAY SCHOOL BEATITUDES 259 


be known to the school. There should be reason for the 
Scripture passages used, and the Scripture and hymns should 
fit together and the prayer should be appropriate. Further- 
more, the features of the worship period should be adapted 
to the various departments of the school. There is nothing 
that will lend itself to good teaching like a devotional, wor- 
shipful opening service. When properly prepared for and 
entered into, the pupils soon come to love this sort of service. 

7. Blessed is the Sunday School that carries out an ade- 
quate, well-balanced program of religious education, for this 
as the diet that makes for permanency and strength. 

Sunday Schools that have the right kind of lessons prop- 
erly taught by trained teachers, and right conditions for 
teaching, will hold their scholars. Scholars are not perma- 
nently held in a Sunday School by street-fair methods or 
the Christmas orange. Nothing holds like good teaching. 
The essentials are lessons that are adapted to the capacity 
of the scholars, properly chosen by the Committee on Edu- 
cation. There is now such a wealth of lesson material and 
such an abundance of suitable lesson helps for teachers of 
all grades that the work of the teacher is truly fascinating 
when one really gets the teacher’s vision. The standards 
should never be lowered to meet the capacity of poor teach- 
ers, but the teaching staff should be improved to meet the 
requirements of higher educational standards. This has 
been done in thousands of schools. 

The proper officials of every Sunday School should get 
in touch and keep in touch with the recognized educational 
leaders of their denomination and see to it that their school 
fully measures up to the educational standards and require- 
ments. 

8. Blessed is the Sunday School whose teachers and offi 
cers are adequately trained for their tasks, for they will get 
results and do their work with joy. 

There is but one way to have plenty of good, trained 
teachers all the time, and that is to make them, in the 


260 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


school, from the school, for the school, and by the school, 
and oy up the process continually. It is a very slow 
method, but the swiftest method known. 

9. Blessed is the Sunday School which maintains a help- 
ful Workers’ Council at least once a month, for this gives 
to the workers what the grindstone gives to the ax—edge 
and polish. 

What the directors’ meeting is to a bank, the Workers’ 
Council is to a Sunday School. It should be the Sunday 
School “trestleboard.” Here the work is reviewed, com- 
parisons are made, the weak places are strengthened and 
plans for the future are laid out. Here all the workers of 
the school in every department learn what is going on in 
the other departments, and are enabled to work in sympathy 
together. The Workers’ Council should be thoroughly pre- 
pared for, the pastor, superintendent and director of re- 
ligious education codperating in the making of the program. 
As a rule, the best councils are held by gathering for a little 
supper at six o’clock and then transacting the business about 
the supper-table, adjourning about nine or before. At the 
Workers’ Council is the place to take account of stock and 
to make up the trial balance and see where you stand 
numerically, financially, socially, educationally, and in every 
other way. There should be carried out, also, a systematic 
course of training or a series of helpful addresses that would 
benefit all the workers. No Sunday School can be at its 
best without a Workers’ Council, and every Sunday School 
can have one if it wants it badly enough. At such a meet- 
ing, the school can look itself squarely in the face and see 
where the wrinkles are. 

10. Blessed is the Sunday School that codperates with 
other schools in a community program, for tt will learn much 
it needs to know, and will be saved from self-concett. 

The superintendent who boasts that he never misses a 
Sunday from his own Sunday School usually has a poor 
Sunday School. It would be well for him if he missed 


SUNDAY SCHOOL BEATITUDES 261 


about one Sunday in six and visited some other schools in 
his own city and elsewhere. He would learn much to his 
advantage, and would soon begin to slough off some of 
his antiquated methods, which he may have thought were 
up to date. The school that declines to codperate with other 
Sunday Schools in a community program will usually have 
a continually narrowing horizon, while the school that seeks 
to codperate and learn what is going on in the great Sunday 
School world will continually broaden its vision and reach 
forward to greater things. There are many things that can 
be done better in a community way than by each doing the 
work alone. 

11. Blessed is the Sunday School that does not go to 

sleep at the switch, for it will keep on the main line and 
land at the station instead of in the ditch. 
_ Wide-awake Sunday Schools avail themselves of every 
means at their command to keep abreast of the times and 
keep their workers informed as to what is going on in the 
Sunday School world. They will have a Sunday School 
Worker’s Library, not hid away in some dark closet under 
the stairway, but in a convenient case, with a glass door, 
where everybody can see it. This library will be kept up 
to date and operated in a way that will make the workers 
want to read the books. It can be done. 

A wide-awake Sunday School never allows a convention 
within its reach to pass by, either denominational or inter- 
denominational, local, county, State or national, without 
sending delegates, if possible, and expecting them to make 
a report to the workers of the school upon their return. 
Every trade, business and profession has conventions, and 
they are well attended. Those schools are the best, as a 
rule, that get in touch with what others are doing. 

A wide-awake Sunday School sees that its teachers have 
the best Sunday School literature, beginning, of course, 
with that of their own denomination and then supplemented, 
if need be, by that of other denominations, and that of 


962 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


independent publishing houses as well. There is good in all 
of them. 

A real, live Sunday School never has to pinch itself to 
see if it is awake. 

12. Blessed is the Sunday School that maintains a mis- 
sionary spirit, for this will develop a warm heart and a 
far-away vision. 

There are schools which claim they cannot give away 
any of their money for benevolences, because it takes all 
they have to support themselves. Such schools will continue 
to have less and less for their own support, and will even- 
tually die of dry rot. A thoroughgoing missionary spirit, 
enthusiastically and properly developed in a Sunday School, 
will put new life in the veins and new courage in the heart. 
Tt will come as a shock to many Sunday School workers, 
no doubt, and Church workers as well, to raise the question 
candidly and seriously as to whether a Church or Sunday 
School can expect God’s favor when it spends more money 
on itself than it does in carrying the Gospel to the world. 
The best way to have life is to try to put life into those who 
are nearer dead than we are. Certain it is that the livest 
and most up-to-date Sunday Schools of the land are those 
with a missionary spirit. 

13. Blessed is the Sunday School that carries out a 
graded program of social, through-the-week activities, for 
it will grow in popularity and power, and the young folks 
will pronounce wt good. : 

There is as much religion in developing the right kind 
of social spirit in a Sunday School as there is in teaching | 
the Sunday School lessons. Religion has to do with the. 
whole being, and it is entirely possible for a Sunday School : 
basket-ball team to play their game to the glory of God. | 
The Church is wearing crépe on its heart because the young 
folks and children find their pleasures, many of them, under 
influences that tend downward. The Sunday School archi- 
tecture of the future will provide suitable conveniences for 






-. 


SUNDAY SCHOOL BEATITUDES 263 


proper pleasures under the Church roof, or, at least, under 
Church guidance. Through-the-week activities, however, in- 
clude all of those channels of service comprised in the 
words “social service.” Bible classes, as a rule, do not 
languish for things to hear, but they are built up by uniting 
in a worth-while program of something to do that is really 
helpful to folks and to the world. There are through-the- 
week activities both altruistic and social that are well 
adapted to all departments and grades of the school, and 
the more intelligently the Sunday School enters into them 
the more securely will the interest of the scholars be sus- 
tained. 

14. Blessed is the Sunday School that fosters the patriot- 
ism of religion and the religion of patriotism, for, by so 
doing, it helps to develop a righteous nation. 

The flag of the country should be in evidence at every 
Sunday School session. It is well also to give the flag salute. 
It will add tremendously to the interest of this feature 
of the school if the flag can be made to float as in a breeze, 
rather than being stationary. This can easily be done by 
securing a silk flag, not too large, perhaps three feet long, 
and then, at a proper place near by, having an electric fan, 
which is turned on for a few moments during the flag salute. 
Of course this could be done only where electricity is in- 
stalled. In many places the flag is placed on the platform 
near the pipe-organ, and the electric fan is placed just 
behind the pipes of the organ and connected with a wire 
leading to the superintendent’s desk. In this way the fan 
is out of sight and can be turned on and off at pleasure. 
The teaching of patriotism in connection with a religious 
service should be something more, however, than honoring 
the flag. It should deal in the real essentials of good citi- 
zenship, integrity, obedience to law, kindness to the unfortu- 
nate, and everything that has to do with community better- 
ment. The Sunday School is, or should be, next to the 
home, the best good-citizenship agency in the world. 


264 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


15. Blessed is the Sunday School that creates and main- 
tains an evangelistic atmosphere, for it will reap abun- 
dantly. 

The worship of God and the honoring of Jesus Christ 
should be the central, pervading notes in every Sunday 
School service. The atmosphere should be such as to make 
it easy to speak of Jesus our Master and His claims upon 
our lives at every session of the school. The public con- 
fession of Christ by a pupil should not be regarded as an 
unusual or unlooked-for thing, but as a natural result of 
the atmosphere that is breathed week by week in the Sunday 
School session. This does not mean that we are to stress 
publicly the formal acceptance of Christ at every session, 
and certainly it does not mean the simple standing up or 
raising of the hand, both of which are apt to become for- 
Sina with little meaning. Nevertheless, no method is 
to be despised that will accomplish the results If souls 
are not being saved in the Sunday School, it is time for 
those in charge to learn the reason and to remedy it. The 
evangelistic spirit, properly understood, is not inconsistent — 
with, or out of harmony with, a buoyant, joyous spirit. 
REAL religion is never pokey. “The j joy of the Lord is your 
strength. ” Building up the Kingdom of God is the business 
of the Church, and it is high business. 


XXIV 
THE ACID TEST—FIFTY-SEVEN VARIETIES 


(for Christian workers, particularly Sunday School workers, 
whether engaged wn the general work or locally.) 


“What you are speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you 
say.” These words, quoted from Emerson, express the truth 
that lies at the foundation of all success. Every Christian 
worker who reads this article is asked to take a mental pho- 
tograph of himself as these fifty-seven varieties of ‘‘the acid 
test”? are presented—and in this request the writer includes 
himself, for he does not pose as “Exhibit A” in this matter. 
The tests are put in the form of questions designed to direct 
our thought. It will be well not to read too rapidly but to 
consider each question in its personal application before go- 
ing on to the next. | 

One: Have you a fixed purpose in life, and are you seek- 
ing to fulfill it in the position you now occupy? 

Two: What ts your idea of success, or what do you un- 
derstand to be the true measure of success? 

In other words, can one succeed who does not reach the 
object of his aim ? 

Three: What is your idea or definition of failure? 

Lowell said, “Not failure, but low aim is crime.” 

Did you ever hear of the “Vanquished Victor,” and do 
you comprehend the meaning of those words in this con- 
nection ? 

Four: What is your loftiest ambition in life? 

Fosdick says, ““No one really lives until he lives for some- 


thing great.” 
265 


266 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Have you ever considered the upward pull of a great pas- 
sion for some attainment really worth while? 

Is it better to aim at things you know you can reach or 
aim at the impossible because it is an ideal? 

Fiwe: Are you big enough to be interested in other causes 
besides the one in which you make your living? 

Many are not. They are the ones of whom it is said, 
“They are always playing on one string.” Nothing compels 
their attention but the thing in which they are directly in- 
terested. Here is where we classify ourselves as to whether 
we are big or little, narrow or broad, close or generous. 

Six: Are you public-spirited enough to take a vital inter- 
est in the welfare of your local community? 

Is it a matter of no concern to you that there are typhoid 
germs in the water supply or that the streets are so filthy 
that they are breeding disease? It is a question whether 
any one can be a success in the largest sense along any line 
whose entire interest is centered in his own particular work. 

Seven: Do you take an interest in politics, national and 
local, and make it a practice to vote? 

If our democratic form of government ever breaks down, 
it will be at this point. Many officials are elected to high 
positions and entrusted with grave responsibilities, when 
their election represents the expressed wish of less than one 
third of the voting constituency. No voter has a right to 
raise his voice against any wrong whatever until after he 
has expressed his preference by his vote. 

Eight: Can a self-centered person be an effective Chris- 
tian worker? 

Some one has truthfully said, “The self-centered man 
has denied himself the most inspiring relationship on earth.” 
No Christian worker can hope for success in any large way 
who settles every question on the basis of how it will affect 
him personally. Putting the cause first and self last is the 
foundation principle of Christian service. 

Nine: Is there any value in self-denial for a good cause? 


THE ACID TEST 267 


Self-denial is not a popular trait among people generally 
but it opens the door to greatness and efficiency. ‘“Self- 
denial is not negative repression, but the cost of positive 
achievement.”’ The missionary denies himself many com- 
forts and pleasures, all of which are wholly proper, that 
he may carry out the ambition of his life. The same is 
true of the explorer, of the inventor, and of others who 
have a consuming ambition to carry out their hearts’ de- 
sire. Too many of us are like one of George Eliot’s char- 
acters of whom she says, “He was to be counted on to 
make any sacrifice that was not unpleasant.” 

Ten: Do you ever apologize for being a Christian worker? 

Is there any more reason for apology than there would 
be for the farmer, the merchant, the lawyer, the doctor, the 
teacher, to apologize for their occupations ? 

Eleven: Do you find it easier to find fault or to commend? 

Have you ever considered that chronic critics always lay 
themselves open to criticism and that it is a sign of generous 
and noble character always to see the good in others and 
speak about it on every proper opportunity? One can never 
trust his character or reputation to an habitual critic, no 
matter how conscientious he may be or think himself to be. 
To speak of the good promotes the good and creates an am- 
bition to do better. 

This does not mean that we are not to call attention to 
glaring faults, especially in those for whom we are respon- 
sible, as, parents to their children, teachers to scholars, etc., 
but even here we get further by commendation than by criti- 
cism. 

Twelve: Do you seek to find something good in those 
with whom others are finding fault and endeavor to offset 
their criticism by commendation? 

There is always some good trait in everybody, if we will 
only look for it, and the more we seek to discover what this 
trait may be, the less liable we are to criticism ourselves. 
Even “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch” can teach us a 


268 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


lesson in this regard, for when others were condemning her 
good-for-nothing, worthless, profligate husband she was al- 
ways ready to respond, “But he has a beautiful handwrit- 
ing.” 

In no particular is this trait more noticeable than in 
what many people have to say about the weather. With 
some people it is always just what it should not be. If the 
day is fair, many are ready to say it is a “weather breeder” 
and we may look for a storm, ete. It seems so much easier 
to see the bad side, to see the fault, than to make an effort 
to see the good. 

Robert Louis Stevenson laid down a good rule when he 
gave us those beautiful lines: 


“Tn men whom men condemn as ill, 

I find so much of goodness still, 

In men whom men pronounce divine, 

I find so much of sin and blot, 

I hesitate to draw the line 

Between the two where God has not.” 


Thirteen: Do you refrain from talking of that fault in 
another which, tf in yourself, you would like to have guarded 
wn silence? 

No words can be too severe to criticize the despicable 
meanness of the one who peddles the faults of another. Such 
a person is never to be trusted. To be sure, these things 
are generally passed on as “secrets” but the one who re- 
ceives them passes them on just the same to others as 
“secrets,” and the farther they go the less secret they be- 
come. One of the best illustrations I have ever seen to 
show how secrets spread and grow was given by placing a 
figure “1” upon a blackboard, with a statement, “Here is 
one person. He has a secret. He tells it to one other per- 
son,” and here another “1” is placed before the first 1” 
on the blackboard, and “11” people know it right away! 


THE ACID TEST 269 


Fourteen: Can you keep a secret when given to you as 
such? 

Not to do so is to brand yourself as unworthy of con- 
fidence. 

Fifteen: Do you know how to make friends and how to 
keep them and how to be a friend? 

The good old Book says, “A man that hath friends must 
show himself friendly.” The little boy, I think, was just 
about right when he said, “A friend is somebody who 
knows all about you and just likes you, anyway.” 

There is no trait of character more beautiful or im- 
portant than just to be a friend, and nobody can hold friends 
who is not a friend himself. 

Sixteen: Do you look folks straight in the eye when you 
talk to them? 

You often see people who are looking off or down or 
somewhere else and never hold their eyes steadily upon 
you while they talk. This, ordinarily, is an indication of 
lack of genuineness, and it is better not to put confidence 
in any person, and certainly not to lend him money, if 
he cannot look you straight in the eye while he is talking. 

Seventeen: Do you know how to help the needy without 
humiliating them? 

This is truly one of the fine arts and is worthy of much 
study. 

Highteen: Do you love a little child? 

Why ? 

Has it occurred to you that the newest born baby is God’s 
latest expression of love to this old world? 

Have you ever stopped to think that childhood is really 
the only clean spot in the world? It is like a ray of sun- 
shine athwart a wintry sky, a patch of flowered meadow in 
the swamp. Not to love little children is to brand oneself 
as unworthy of love. 

Nineteen: When your cherished plans fatl, do you give 
up in discouragement or tighten your belt and try again? 


270 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Success rarely comes from the first attempt. It took 
years and countless efforts to perfect the sewing-machine, 
likewise the telephone. The great wizard, Edison, was — 
asked one time how many experiments he made before he 
perfected the are light. His answer was, “About eighteen 
hundred.” Yet everybody enjoys the are light to-day, little 
realizing what it cost. 

Success very often lies just beyond where we made our 
failure. 

Twenty: Can you stick? 

Even when you go to your class you find them ofttimes 
inattentive, and yet can you stick ? 

A certain piece of work is given you to do, and you 
accept it, but it proves more difficult than you supposed, 
and you are tempted to lay it down. Can you stick? 

Twenty-one: Does the Pullman porter or the street-car 
conductor or the grocery clerk or your next-door neighbor 
get the wmpression from you that your religion agrees with 
you? 

If not, why not? 

Twenty-two: Do you know the contagion of a smile and 
when and how to gwe rt? 


“All who joy would win, 
Must share it. 
Happiness was born a twin.” 


Stevenson said, “A happy man or woman is a radiating 
focus of good-will, and their entrance into a room is as 
though another candle had been lighted.” 


“Nobody ever added up the value of a smile: 
We know how much a dollar’s worth and how much is a 
mile: | 
We know the distance to the sun, the size and weight 
of earth, 
But no one here can tell us just how much a smile is worth.” 


THE ACID TEST 271 


Twenty-three: Can you be happy and smile when others 
get the credit for some worthy thing that you have done, 
or do you insist on having the credit yourself? 

Henry Drummond said, “Put a seal upon your lips and 
forget what you have done. After you have been kind; 
after love has stolen forth into the world and done its beau- 
tiful work, go back into the shadow again and say nothing 
about it. Love hides even from itself.” 

I am wondering if there can be a deeper, keener joy to a 
heart that is in proper tune to the very highest ideals than 
to have some one else credited with some worthy thing that 
you know you have done and for which you really deserve 
the credit, and then to keep silent about it. 

Twenty-four: When you have wronged another, are you 
ready to make a frank confession and ask for pardon, and 
are you ready to forgive when others ask it of you? 

I am wondering if we stop always to realize what we 
actually say to God when we repeat the Lord’s Prayer— 
“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Forgiv- 
ing is a Christian grace, and one who cannot forgive should 
never do wrong. 

Twenty-five: Do you get out of fix if you find a handful 
of folks to hear you, when you expected many more in your 
audience, your Church, your school, your class? 

Is it really fair to scold those who are there, because 
others are not there? Is it a compliment to those who 
came out, perhaps with much effort, to hear you, to have 
you show disappointment and ill feeling at the smallness 
of the company? It is a good thing for a speaker or a 
teacher to make it a rule to put forth his very best efforts 
under those circumstances, and this is a sign of his big- 
ness. 

Twenty-six: Can you banish all ill feeling toward those 
who seek to thwart your plans? 

This is very hard. The supreme illustration of it was 
when the Master prayed for forgiveness upon those who 


272 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


were taking his very life, for they knew not what they 
were doing. 

Twenty-seven: Can you be big and generous and loyal 
an a subordinate position, or do you chafe because you are 
not at the head? 

Those who always want to be “It” are generally “It? 
and little else. 

Twenty-eight: Can you cheerfully yield your plans for 
those of others when it seems best to do so? 

Twenty-nine: Can you be patient when those for whom 
you have labored do not appreciate your efforts? 

History is full of notable examples along this line but 
chiefest among them all is the example of our Lord and 
Master. | 

Thirty: Can you control yourself and wear a smile under 
deserved or undeserved criticism? 

Retaliation always comes back like a boomerang. In 
every disagreement, as a rule, the one who can control 
himself and hold his tongue comes out the best. If you are 
criticized for something you deserve, it is wise to keep still. 
If you are criticized for something you do not deserve, then 
silence is a sign of greatness. 

Thirty-one: When you enter a private home, do you look 
upon it as an opportunity to radiate the Christian spirit? 
Christian workers, who are so often entertained in hospita- 
ble homes and sometimes in others, should bear in mind 
that they are representatives of the Most High and should 
reflect His spirit and endeavor, without ostentation, to cul- 
tivate a Christian atmosphere. 

Thirty-two: Do you recognize the sacredness of the home? 

The home is the most sacred place on earth, if it be a real 
home. It is God’s earliest and holiest school. If it be the 
right kind of a home, there will be found the highest ex- — 
pression of happiness, joy, and peace, and no stranger has 
a right to disturb that joy and peace. The Christian home 
is the bulwark of civilization. 


THE ACID TEST 273 


David Livingstone wrote in his diary, after burying his 
wife, dead of the jungle fever, and as he turned again to 
the heart of Africa, to his lonely work, “Oh, my Mary, my 
Mary, how often we have longed for a quiet home since 
you and I were cast adrift at Kolobeng.”’ 

Thirty-three: Is the Bible God’s living message to you? 

This is a severe test. Unless God’s Word is a living 
Book to us, can we hope to make it so to our scholars? Can 
we hope to make our messages effective as we present them 
to audiences, Churches, and classes? Unless God’s Word 
lives in our hearts, we are not likely to make it live in the 
hearts of others. 

Thirty-four: Is your prayer-life and fellowship with God 
a comfort to you? 

If not, why not? 

Thirty-five: Do you count in your local Church? 

Altogether too large a proportion of our Church members 
are leaners instead of lifters, getters instead of givers. They 
usually have time for all sorts of social and personal en- 
gagements. but no time to teach a Sunday School class or 
take up any of the real work of the Church. “Let George 
do it,” or some similar expression, is their stock reply 
when asked to assume any responsibility. The really val- 
uable member in any Church is the one who will accept 
any position offered to him, if it is at all possible, and do 
the very best he can to make it a success. The problems 
of our Churches would all be solved, and speedily solved, 
if all the members were pulling at the load—were really 
between the shafts, instead of in the wagon while others 
do the pulling. 

Thirty-six: Can you sincerely pray for those unfortunate 
people who do not like you and whom you do not like? 

The spirit that makes this impossible is the spirit of 
jealousy, and jealousy and love cannot abide in the same 
heart at the same time. It is easy to love those who love 
us, but the command of the Master is to love even our 


ly tg 


274 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


enemies. Nothing will mellow one’s heart and lift his soul 
like genuine prayer, in the right spirit, for those he knows 
to be his enemies. What a magnificent illustration we have 
of this on the part of Stephen as he was being stoned to 
death by his enemies, and also in the Master Himself. 

Thirty-seven: Do you try to cultivate the Christian grace 
of loving everybody for Jesus’ sake? 

Thirty-eight: Are you adding to your efficiency by sys- 
tematic, worth-while reading? 

Proper reading, to the Christian worker, is like fertilizer 
to the soil. Without it, the soil wears out and fails to 
produce a normal crop. All Christian workers should read, 
not too much but much more than they do ordinarily. Their 
reading should be wisely selected—selected with a purpose 
—and it should bear upon the tasks for which they are 
particularly responsible. By reading one keeps abreast of 
the times and fills his mind with new thoughts and larger 
ideals. . 

I wish every Sunday School teacher and worker would 
read at least one good book every three months. Bacon said: 
“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and 
writing an exact man.” 

Thirty-nine: Do you practice taking notes of helpful 
things said in the addresses and sermons you hear? 

This is one of the finest ways to enrich one’s mind and 
store up expressions and ideas that can be used to profit 
later on. Notebooks have long memories. 

Forty: Are you keeping your eyes open for prospective 
leaders in Church work? 

This is the highest ambition a Christian worker can have. 
It is fine for any Christian worker to fill his days and 
months and years with activities that are really worth while, 
but the best way to live after he is dead is to leave others 
behind him to carry on the work; those whom he has in- 
fluenced to give their lives to Christian service. No Chris- 


THE ACID TEST 275 


tian worker should ever go on to his Eternal Home and 
leave an unfilled place behind him. He ought to continue 
to live through those who have been influenced by his godly 
example and set to work. 

Forty-one: Can you be happy alone? 

Pascal says, “The man who lives only for himself hates 
nothing so much as being alone with himself.” 

Forty-two: Will a lonely dog follow you on the street and 
smile at you by wagging his tail? 

Dumb beasts can usually tell who their friends are, and 
their enemies get a wide berth. The kindly heart attracts, 
attracts even a beast, and kindness will win where blows 
will fail. 

In California, on a great farm where thoroughbred horses 
are raised for the track and other purposes, only kindly 
men, and these at high salaries, are engaged to train the 
colts. It is said that a rough, cross word, or an oath, is 
the occasion for immediate dismissal. 

Forty-three: Do you occasionally say a word of good 
cheer to the elevator man, the janitor, your chauffeur, your 
hired man, or the scrubwoman in your office building? 

Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever felt the 
warmth of the smile you usually get in return? 

Forty-four: Do yow know the value of time, and have 
you the habit of saving the fragments of time and putting 
them to the best use? 

Many efficient workers never think of leaving home for 
business without slipping a little book into their pocket 
or some paper or magazine they desire to read. It is a good 
custom also to carry a notebook in which to jot down things 
while waiting for the street car or in the railway station— 
things you will want to remember by and by. 

Dr. Peloubet, author of “Szxect Norses on tHE Lezs- 
sons,” told the writer that he had saved enough time to 
write a book by not arriving too early at the railway station. 


276 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Forty-five: Do you keep your appointments? 

This is most important. A man who habitually neglects 
his appointments will find it easy to let his note go to 
protest in the bank. It is the indication of a loose screw 
in one’s character. No one is better at the circumference 
of his life than he is at the center of it. 

Forty-six: Can you hold your temper and keep sweet 
when your coffee comes cold? 

Forty-seven: When some one steps on your foot would 
you like to see your first thought set up in type? 

In other words, can you hold your tongue in an emer- 
gency ¢ 

Forty-eight: Have you learned that the proper care of 
your body, your dress, your hair, your finger natls, your 
teeth, is usually a true index of character? 

Forty-nine: Is your desk or dresser kept in an orderly 
manner, so you can find what you want when you want 
it and are not ashamed when company comes? . 

This likewise is a true index of how your regular work 
is done. One man speaking of another facetiously said 
that he had one of those new office systems of filing, whereby 
he could find what he wanted when he didn’t want it, by 
looking where it wouldn’t be if he did want it. 

Fifty: Are you in the habit of borrowing little things, 
such as pencil, penknife, etc., because your own are not 
handy, where they ought to be? 

Have you ever stopped to consider just what this means 
as an indication of character ? 

Fifty-one: Can you be happy doing the so-called “drudg- 
ertes”’ of everyday life? 

Fifty-two: Do you believe that sweeping floors and work- 
ing in the field are as compatible with fine living as prano- 
playing or golf or making speeches or teaching a Sunday 
School class? 

Fifty-three: Can you look into a mud-puddle and see the 
blue sky and fleecy clouds? 


THE ACID TEST 277 


Or do you see simply mud, scum, tadpoles? 

Fifty-four: Can you see beyond the stars when you look 
up at nght? 

Fifty-five: Do you realize that one’s real contribution to 
the Cause of God, in this world, is measured more by what 
he ts than by what he says or does? 

Fifty-six: Do you look forward to old age with dread and 
anxiety ? 

This is a severe test, and yet it is possible for one’s de- 
clining years to be the richest, happiest, sweetest of his life. 
A dear old lady well-nigh eighty years of age, who had been 
much in public life, was asked how it seemed to be going 
down the hill of life. Her reply was, “Oh, it is not so 
bad if you have made a good climb coming up the hill and 
had a good look both ways from the top.” 

One of the dearest sights on earth is to see an old person 
with a smiling face and youthful heart and taking a vital 
interest in the things of every day. No one ever grows old 
until he stops growing. 

Fifty-seven: Do you now and then sit down and seriously 
undertake to make an honest inventory of your graces and 
disgraces? 

If these fifty-seven varieties of “the acid test”? were to 
be expressed in one word that word might be “Atmosphere,” 
or possibly “Influence,” or perhaps, better yet, “Character.” 
The radiating influence of one’s life as he goes about his 
daily tasks is the true measure of his worth and value in 
this world. The very presence of some people is a sanctu- 
ary. After all, the great key-word of the life of a Christian 
worker is, “Love.” This it is that reaches the goal, never 
gives up, wins all battles. Paul’s poem on “Love” tells the 
story better than I can tell it: 


“T may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but 
if I have no love, 
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal; 


278 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


I may prophesy, fathom all mysteries and secret lore, 

I may have such absolute faith that I can move hills from 
their place, but if I have no love, 

I count for nothing; 

I may distribute all I possess in charity, 

I may give up my body to be burnt, but if I have no love, 

I make nothing of it. 

Love is very patient, very kind. 

Love knows no jealousy; love makes no parade, gives it- 
self no airs, is never rude, never selfish, never irritated, 
never resentful; love is never glad when others go wrong, 
love is gladdened by goodness, always slow to expose, al- 
ways eager to believe the best, always hopeful, always pa- 
tient. Love never disappears.” * 


1 Translation by James Moffatt. 


XXV 


ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP IN CHRISTIAN 
WORK 


Humanly speaking, leadership is the only problem of the 
Church. The world is greedy for leadership, too much 
so. It is so greedy that it only waits till it hears the voice 
of a leader, and then it follows. The tragedy of it is that 
it follows a bad leader just as it follows a good leader. 
This is the. reason for so many organizations and institu- 
tions that are evil in their influence. They have followed a 
bad leader. People are like sheep in this regard. You 
have seen a flock of sheep being taken from one field to 
another, where there were bars let down in the fence. The 
first sheep, in its anxiety to get across to the salt or water 
or food, will jump three bars high, and every sheep in the 
flock will jump because the one before him did, even though 
all the bars were taken down. 

People walk alone only until the voice of a leader is 
heard, and then they follow. The greatest need to-day of 
the world in a human way is for real, sane leadership. A 
leader is one who goes before. He must be ahead of the 
crowd, but not separated from it. “A leader is the fore- 
most among companions”; hence, leadership is helpfulness. 
It is unbounded faith. The greatest need of the Church 
to-day is for good leadership. 


I. QUALIFICATIONS FOR LEADERSHIP 
1. Humility 


The first qualification for leadership, according to Bishop 
Charles H. Brent, is humility, and to this statement we give 
our hearty assent. Lowliness and kingliness go together. 


280 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


A lordly or proud person, that is, one without humility, 
is never a true leader. He can be a driver or a bully, but 
never a leader. 

There should be no spirit of superiority. Pride and self- 
importance separate; humility unites. The wise man said, 
“Before honor goeth humility.” Self-importance kills real 
leadership, and a desire for leadership is often the begin- 
ning of tyranny. The true leader pulls; the false leader 
pushes, yet “push” is the word that is canonized by the 
world. It eulogizes the man of push. It honors the man 
who elbows his way to the chief seat, but “pull” is God’s 
word. Jesus said, “And I if I be lifted up will draw all 
men unto me.” “Push” is selfish and exclusive; “pull” is 
neighborly and inclusive. “Push” says, “The weakest to the 
wall!’’; “pull” says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” 

The final test of leadership is not our own success, but 
the success we have helped others to attain. The man who 
never bows will never soar. Charles Kingsley, noted for 
his humility and gentleness, writing to a friend one day, 
said that he was still “helping lame dogs over the stile.” 

A leader must be willing to accept the services of those 
better qualified than he, and without jealousy. True lead- 
ership, like true greatness, seeks nothing for itself, but seeks 
the best for others. Darwin and Gladstone were good 
friends, each outstanding in his line. On one occasion, 
Gladstone called on Darwin at his home and found there a 
number of other scientists who were having a gathering to- 
gether. At the close of the visit, as the great Gladstone 
took his departure, Darwin followed him to the gate and 
watched him as he walked down the road. Returning to 
his friends, he said to them, “Isn’t it wonderful that a great 
man like Gladstone should come to see me!” It never 
occurred to him that he was as great a man as Gladstone in 
his line. This was real humility. We have quoted in an 
earlier chapter incidents in the life of our great martyr 
President, Lincoln, that show his humility. 


ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP 281 


Meekness is a great factor in the control of others. How 
was it about Moses? “Who am 1?” said he. He could not 
even talk, and yet he was chosen to be the great leader 
of the people of Israel out of bondage, and was put down 
in the Book as the meekest of men. 

Consider the humility of the greatest Leader of all. “Is 
not this the carpenter?” He associated with the poor and 
outcasts, and was not too busy to go to the publican’s home 
and sup with him. Jesus became a man so that He might 
lead men. 


2. Purpose, Confidence, Personality 


Leadership is the passion for a purpose or a cause. One 
is often required to aim at the seemingly impossible in order 
to arrive at results. The ship at sea in the midst of the 
great storm might say, if it could speak, that it was dis- 
tressing to have to make one’s way with such opposition 
as these boisterous waves, and yet without those waves the 
ship would be lying helpless on the bottom of the sea. 

The real leader must set for himself a certain goal to 
reach. He must see life steadily and see it whole. He must 
be sure of himself. No man who understands himself ever 
appears to be out of place. 

Leadership is not vested in titles. Notice the generals 
in the late world-war, how many of them went down, one 
after another, and were not heard of again, so far as leader- 
ship is concerned. Others took their places who were better 
leaders. Their titles did not save them. There must be 
the sheer ability to lead, also the full realization of the 
importance of the thing in hand. 

A leader must be transparent as the dew and have no 
ulterior motives. Right leadership cannot be self-imposed. 
The leader is in command because of his ability to com- 
mand, and usually by common acceptance. He should have 
a strong personality. Of Napoleon, it was said, his pres- 


282 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


ence in a battle was equal to that of twenty thousand of his 
men. 


38. Quietness and Self-control 


Supremacy lies in being well poised and knowing your 
ground. “Study to be’ quiet,” Paul tells us, and this is an 
underlying principle of real leadership. He who cannot 
control himself and keep his voice down cannot control - 
others. In Proverbs we read, “He that ruleth his spirit 
is better than he that taketh a city.” Every display of 
authority lessens authority. They govern best who appear 
not to govern at all. The fewer the commands, the more 
generous the following. 

The greatest leaders are quiet and self-controlled. It was 
said of General Grant, during the Civil War, that he had ° 
the habit of passing his pencil back and forth between his 
fingers, on the pommel of his saddle, even during a battle, 
and the harder the fight the slower were the movements of 
his hand. This was self-control. 

In the most wonderful baseball game, I suppose, that was 
ever played, consisting of twenty-one innings and then a tie, 
both pitchers had the same testimony to give and, to use 
the words of one of those pitchers, it was this: “I had such 
control of myself I could have pitched that ball into a tea- 
cup.” 


4. Patience 


When one loses his temper he loses everything as a leader. 

The leader must possess himself in patience, knowing 
that he may never see the desired outcome of his efforts. 
He should never get irritated because others do not see 
as he sees. Sometimes our greatest victories are won by 
being patient and standing still. 

The story is told of two fishermen who were approaching 


ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP 283 


St. John, New Brunswick, in their smacks and were near 
enough together to talk to each other, each in his own boat. 
One bantered the other, and a bet was made as to who 
should win the race. One man realized that the tide was 
carrying him out faster than the wind could carry him in, 
and he cast anchor and won the race. Many races in the 
course of life are won by casting anchor. 


5. Sympathy and Sincerity 


One can serve only as his sympathy embraces and he 
understands those about him. The Great Leader pressed 
all mankind to His breast as a mother her baby. 

You must make your own the cause and interests of 
those you undertake to lead. 

The leader must be transparent, genuine, sympathetic. 
Reputation without real character is a bubble that will burst. 


6. Self-surrender 


The true leader is willing to sink personal ambitions 
out of sight in order that the object he has in view may 
be attained. One of the greatest illustrations of this we 
have is John the Baptist, who was ready to decrease that 
the One he came to announce might increase. The true 
leader never seeks greatness for himself, and he is ready 
to acknowledge the superiority of those who have qualifi- 
cations he has not. 

A real leader never seeks to make his associates feel small. 
The second place is always the hardest to fill. Jesus came 
to make folks feel, and be, great. Hence it is that the com- 
mands of a true leader become invitations. “No man is a 
hero to his valet,’’ is an old proverb, and as false as it is 
old. If a man is not a hero to his valet he cannot be a 
hero to anybody in reality. If one cannot convince those 
nearest to him—his friends, his family—of the genuine 


284 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


ness of his Christian life it is questionable if he can con- 
vince anybody else. 

Jealousy destroys the ability to lead. How often I have 
heard dear old Dr. F. B. Meyer tell this incident out of 
his own life: He said he found it easier to pray for Camp- 
bell Morgan when he was in America than when he re- 
turned to England and took Westminster Chapel, not far 
from Christ Church, where he preached and had larger 
audiences than he himself had. He said he found that 
serpent, jealousy, eating away the joy of his life, and he 
undertook to conquer it. To use his own expression, he 
said he went into his study and got his foot on its neck 
and spent the time in prayer, and that serpent was slain. 
Then he called the officers of his Church together and said 
to them that they must officially invite Campbell Morgan 
and his family over to their Church and give them a re- 
ception. This they did. At that reception he told the people 
how he loved Campbell Morgan, and it was true; how he 
prayed for him every day, and something of the battle that 
he had had. In telling this incident in public, as I have 
heard Dr. Meyer tell it repeatedly, he said that he prayed 
for Campbell Morgan on one side of him and Thomas 
Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on the other side 
of him until he loved to pray for them. Many a time he 
would pray for them and rise from his knees having for- 
gotten to pray for himself and Christ Church at all. He 
said, “The more I prayed for them and their success, the 
less I had to pray for myself and Christ Church. The 
result was that God filled their Churches so full that they 
ran over and filled mine fuller than it ever was before, 
and it has been full ever since.” This was the reward of 
destroying the jealousy that was in his heart. 

It was said of a great leader that he made himself great 
by making his associates great. Lincoln was not jealous 
of those who desired to be President when he was elected. 
He put four of those very men upon his cabinet and worked 


ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP 285 


with them. Christ’s own testimony of John the Baptist is 
a fine illustration. While John decreased that He might 
increase, yet Christ Himself said, “There is none greater 
than he.” 

The real test of leadership is with those who stand next. 
It takes a big person to fill a second place greatly. To 
treat subordinates as rivals and keep them down is small 
and mean; to magnify them is real greatness. 

Referring to Dr. F. B. Meyer again, I have heard him 
say that he always had the servants of his family at their 
family prayers, and over and over he would say to them, 
“You have credit for the work I do, just as I have it myself. 
I stand before the public and preach, but I could not do 
my work if you did not do yours. You prepare my food, 
keep my room in tidy shape, and make everything pleasant 
for me here at home. In the great final day your reward 
and mine will be alike.” 

The sun hides his face every night to give the stars a 
chance. Greatness is never made more great by contrast. 
A great man always makes a small place large. A man 
who had suddenly come to eminence passed another man 
on the street and said to the friend with whom he was 
walking, “That man used to shine my shoes.” The man 
overheard it and replied, “Did I not do it well?’ He was 
the greater of the two. 


7. Willingness To Obey 


Only those can give commands who have learned to obey 
commands. Obedience is better than sacrifice. The man 
who would not make a good private in the ranks would 
never make a good general in the field. Obedience is the 
school of action. 

Well do I remember, on one occasion, hearing Admiral 
Robley Evans give a lecture in the city of Philadelphia. 
Tt was shortly after he had taken those sixteen battleships 


286 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


around Cape Horn to the Golden Gate. When he arose 
he said, “Friends, I cannot proceed with my lecture until 
I answer the question that is written on your faces. I see 
it everywhere I go, and what you are asking me is this, 
‘Why did you take those battleships around Cape Horn 
to the Golden Gate? I do not know; I did not know then; 
I do not know now. There was one man in this country 
of ours—the President of the United States—who had a 
right to order me to take those battleships around Cape 
Horn. In the forty-four years of my experience in the 
navy I have learned my lesson, and that is to obey orders 
and ask no questions,” 


8. Love 


This is the real heart of leadership—not domination, but 
fellowship; not driving, but drawing; not by fear, but by — 
the compulsion of affection. Affection for a leader secures 
the truest, deepest devotion. 

A pathetic story is told of a Confederate soldier, just 
at the close of the Civil War. He was ragged, weary, and 
discouraged. Riding along on his horse, he saw riding 
ahead of him his great commander and general, Robert E. 
Lee, on his famous war horse “Traveler.” He spurred up 
and overtook the great general, and then said to him, “Marsa 
Lee!” ‘Lee turned to see who it was, and he said, “Marsa 
Lee, I followed yo-all through the great war. It’s ended 
now. JI want you to do one of your private soldiers an 
honor.” “What is it?’ said the great general. He said, 
“Dismount,” and the general dismounted. The soldier took 
both horses and tied them to a little sapling beside the 
road. Then, standing before the general, he took off the 
piece of a hat that was left to him and called out, “Three 
cheers for Marsa Lee!” The first cheer was lustily given; 
the second was broken; and the third ended ina sob. Then, 


ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP 287 


without a word, they mounted their horses and rode on. 
It was the devotion of love to a great leader. 

Love determines motives, and there should always be 
the genuine, true motive. The leader of men must not see 
aman, but men. Expediency may determine methods, but 
expediency cannot determine motives. One central motive 
controls every personality. A pure motive does not fear 
publicity, nor does it seek it. A true leader must have a 
blameless life. 

Again referring to that great character, Robert E. Lee, 
it is said of him that on one occasion he was offered $50,000 
for the use of his name, without any responsibility or in- 
vestment on his part. His only reply was, as he declined 
the offer, “I am not in the habit of receiving money except 
for value received.” This was the sign of love and great- 
ness. 

The more prominent a man becomes the more searching 
will be the judgment he must undergo. If he is right he 
will win out. 

The man who is to lead in Christian work must have 
close fellowship with the Matchless Leader. Here he will 
learn his best lessons. The -presence of that great Master 
should be to our daily tasks as the low, sweet accompaniment 
of a song. 


II. THE COST OF LEADERSHIP 


Bishop Brent says, in his matchless book, ‘“LeapErsurp,” 
“Leaders must be prepared for pain, the pain of loneliness, 
the hardest of all discipline of the social nature; of visions 
ridiculed, enthusiasm misunderstood, plans rejected by those 
in whose interest they have been formulated.” 

You cannot have the joy of leadership without its dis- 
cipline or, at times, its anguish, One must be ready for 
ridicule, for ridicule will come. 


288 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS 


Elwood Haines of Kokomo was heartily laughed at by 
the bystanders on the street, we are told, as he rode down 
in, his old spring wagon, propelled by the machinery he had 
made for that purpose, but that was automobile number 
one! 

Oftentimes the crowd do not recognize the leader till he 
is gone, and then build him a monument with the stones 
they cast at him. It was so with Columbus in the discover- 
ing of America. It was so with the discoverer of ether, 
we are told, that great blessing to humanity. According 
to the records, there were but a handful of people that fol- 
lowed him to his grave, though he made one of the greatest 
contributions to the world that has ever been made. ‘The 
best plans are often rejected by those for whom they were 
made. 

Leaders must expect to suffer and expect to be lonely. 
It was true of Moses, Paul, and Christ, and of Christ’s Dis- 
ciples and His modern followers also. Christ’s wilderness 
experience and Gethsemane and His struggling and suffer- 
ing on the Cross give some intimation of the cost of leader- 
ship. ‘Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience 
by the things which he suffered.” 

There is no real power of leadership without struggle 
and without suffering. Those who most truly lead suffer 
the most and are the loneliest. The world’s greatest Leader 
‘was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief,” but the day will come when all this 
will change. ‘Behold, thy King cometh!” Christ never 
held an office. His titles gave Him nothing; He gave them 
everything, but the world felt the pull of His leadership, 
and feels it still. He wept over Jerusalem because He could 
not win it as He desired. The greatest encomium prob- 
ably that ever was passed on Christ was passed in derision 
by His enemies, for they said, “Behold, the world is gone 
after him!” 

The true leader in Christian work, whether he be a re 


ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP 289 


former, a preacher, a Sunday School worker, or engaged 
in any department of Christian work whatever, must be will- 
ing to walk in pain and loneliness, but the pathway will 
lead to a joy that will grow greater throughout all Eternity, 
because we are in fellowship with Him. 


III. THE PENALTY OF LEADERSHIP * 


“In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must 
perpetually live in the white light of publicity. 

“‘Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a man- 
ufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. 

“In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward 
and the punishment are the same. 

“The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment 
fierce denial and detraction. 

“When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole 
world it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious 
few. 

“Tf his work be merely mediocre he will be left severely 
alone—if he achieve a masterpiece it will set a million 
tongues a-wagging. 

“Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the 
artist who produces a commonplace painting. 

‘“‘Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or 
build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless 
your work be stamped with the seal of genius. 

“Long, long after a great work, or a good work, has 
been done those who are disappointed or envious continue 
to ery out that it cannot be done. 

“Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised 
against our own Whistler as a mountebank long after the 
big world had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. 

“Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musi- 
cal shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom 
he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was 
no musician at all, 

1 Author unknown, 


290 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS | 


“The little world continued to protest that Fulton could 
never build a steamboat after the big world flocked to the 
river banks to see his boat steam by. 

“The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the 
effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. 

“Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to de- 
preciate and to destroy—but only confirms once more the 
superiority of that which he strives to supplant. 

“There is nothing new in this. 

“Tt is as old as the world and as old as human passions 
—envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. 

“And it all avails nothing. 

“Tf the leader truly leads, he remains—the leader. 

“Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in 
his turn, is assailed and so holds his laurels through the 
ages. 

“That which is good or great makes itself known—no 
matter how loud the clamor of denial. 

“That which deserves to live—lives.” 


THE END 


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